BEVERLY HILLS, June 06, (THEWILL) – In line with his campaign promises which included consolidating on the developmental projects of his predicessors, the administration of Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State is set to complete the 14-storey hotel project within the Tropicana Entertainment Centre complex located in the heart of Uyo, the state capital.
The gigantic project, initiated by the Senator Godswill Akpabio’s administration, has been abandoned for the past seven years even before the end of his administration with claims that it had a structural defect.
Construction work on the Tropicana Entertainment Centre was stopped in 2014 when the eight-year tenure of the initiator, Akpabio, elapsed.
The Commissioner for Special Duties, Mr. Okpolupm Etteh, said in an interactive session in Uyo recently, that the state government was presently shopping for investors for the project, adding that, about four investors indicated interest in the hotel, even as the state is considering due diligence to engage one.
Etteh, who denied allegations that the project was stopped because it had a structural defect, assured that in the next two or three months, an investor would be considered to take over the completion of the project.
Etteh said: “A suitable investor will be chosen after due diligence is completed. The state government is shopping for an investor that would be able to sustain the hotel once it kicks off.
“You have to be sure where you invest your money. Currently, we have three to four investors that are interested in that hotel. China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCEC), is one of them.
“You know the Nigerian climate, it is not easy for someone to bring his money and come and invest in a particular project. The person will also do due diligence to find out, is the state government owing a contractor, is the business viable?
“A lot of investors have been coming but the onus is on the government to choose the one who would be able to invest and sustain that particular business.
“In the next two or three months, we have an investor to the hotel. We are doing due diligence to choose an investor that we know will handle the project.
“The due diligence of that building was done by a reputable company in Nigeira called ETR and Partners Consulting Engineers, there is no defect in that building.”
THEWILL reports that until recently, when Governor Udom Emmanuel commissioned the “Market Square”, to operate within the shopping mall complex, only the cinema was functioning in the the multi-billion naira Tropicana Entrainment Centre.
The complex where the hotel is situated houses the cinema galleria, shopping malls, a 5,000-capacity conference hall, and theme park, among others.
The project, which was meant to explore the tourism sector and open Akwa Ibom to investors, was awarded in 2008 to SilverBird, owned by Mr. Ben Bruce, at the sum of N33 billion, with a completion period of 18 months; but the amount expanded so far on the project is within the range of N150 billion.
THEWILL recalls that shortly after its award, the location of the project was criticised by former Governor, Obong Victor Attah, an architect who designed the masterplan of the state capital city.
Attah queried the siting of the project without an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), in view of the waste that would be generated from the project and its implications on both humans and environments.
Based on some noticeable errors made in the contract such as insufficient hectares of land to accommodate the project and the EIA to be carried out, the first contract was reviewed upwards to over N100 billion within three years
to accommodate compensation to owners of the additional acquired land and other sub-heads.
The project, according to the Commissioner, is one of those to be completed and commissioned for use before the end of the present administration.
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