Over 1800 workers helping in the construction of Nigeria’s new fertilizer company have been blocking the Onne highway disturbing flow of traffic but Indorama-Eleme Petrochemicals Limited (IEPCL) has intervened to resolve the crisis.
The construction is being handled by a consortium of Toyo Engineering and Daewoo Nigeria Limited. The $1.4Bn plant has a capacity of 1.4 million metric tonnes per annum, and is touted as the world’s largest gas-based single stream urea plant with world-class facilities and technology believed to soon put Nigeria on the global fertilizer map.
The project was earmarked to last for 36 months and is said to be due for test-running in Indorama’s tradition of beating targets, but the over 1800 construction workers were insisting being paid ‘thank-you’ bonus.
Spokespersons for the workers said they had demonstrated within the company last week Wednesday (February 10, 2016) but that nothing came out of it. On Wednesday, 17 February 2016, they blocked the Onne expressway causing huge grid-lock on the road that was just being rescued by volunteer companies mobilised by the Nyesom Wike administration.
Soldiers from Bori Camp (Airborne Brigade) stormed the place but the workers did not bulge.
This was the point when the parent company, Indorama-Eleme Petrochemicals limited, owners of Indorama Fertilizer and Chemicals Limited who actually engaged Toyo Engineering and Daewoo Nigeria Limited on the project intervened.
The public affairs manager (PAM), Josy Nkwocha, who is also the special adviser to the managing director said the company had to intervene to help both groups find amicable resolutions.
A source said the thing the workers wanted to hear was that an amount had been awarded to each of them as pay off. Indorama Eleme may be forced to do this to allow peace to reign, but some sources said this approach could make investors to divert plants to quieter states.
The workers said several critical sections of the plant were already going through various stages of pre-commissioning, commissioning and test-run, leading to plant inauguration any moment from now.
Inside sources said an 84-kilometre gas pipeline to supply natural gas liquid (NGL) feedstock and a port terminal at Onne Port Complex in Port Harcourt were also being completed to compliment the fertilizer project.
The fertilizer plant has world-scale capacity of Urea 4000 metric tones per day (MT/day) or 1.4 million MT per annum. It is energy-efficient and has state-of-art technology, indeed, the latest technologies from world-class process licensors – KBR of United States of America and Toyo Engineering of Japan!
