President Mohammadu Buhari will inaugurate Edo Inland Container Dry Port (Edo-ICD) in December.

Charles Akhigbe, the Project Initiator, disclosed this on Monday to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Benin City, the state capital.

He said the ICD would be the first of its kind in the South South geo-political zone.

He said the project, in its last stage of completion, would play host to four federal government agencies for on the spot final assessment on September 17.

Mr Akhigbe said the federal agencies would include Nigeria Shippers Council, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) and the Federal Ministries of Transport and Finance.

He said the agencies would review, among other things, work done so far on the project site and assess to the project location in the bid to grant of final concession to the Atlanque Marine Engineering Services (AMES), the promoters of the project.

He said this would facilitate the submission of a report to the Minister of Transport on the state of readiness of the ICD to commence receiving containers as an import and export dry port.

Mr Akhigbe said the ICD would help to decongest Lagos ports.

He also said it would create more than 15,000 direct and indirect jobs and serve as a one-stop shop for import and export activities in the state in particular and the South South region in general.

(NAN)