A privately owned and funded $75 million Agro-industrial complex is being planned for Kaduna State.
The complex named TMDK Agro-Industrial Park is a fully funded strategic investment TMDK Oil Traders Limited designed to leverage the vast investment opportunities to diversify the economy of Kaduna State in particular and Nigeria in general.
The Planning & Project Consultant, Sani Sabiu, said on Sunday in Abuja that the complex, which would contain shared infrastructure for seven industrial processing companies under a single roof, would massively impact the economy of Kaduna State and environs.
Promoters of the project, led by the Consultant, Sani Sabiu, briefing the former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai during a visit to the site recently
Apart from providing employment for 960 workers of various grades directly, he said the facility would also provide income sources to thousands as suppliers, distributors, farmers and technical support services providers.
Also, he said it would provide employment, improve livelihood, guarantee a market for soya beans and corn (major produce)
of Kaduna State and provide revenues to the government at state and federal levels.
Sabiu listed the proposed processing companies to include a 300 tons per day Soya extraction and refining facility with the capacity to process about 10 trailers loads of soya beans to be sourced from local markets in Kaduna State and part of northern Nigeria.
“The major products from the facility will be high protein soya bean cake, which can be further processed into animal feeds or high protein meal for human consumption, with some of it to be used in-house to process animal feeds for poultry, fisheries and livestock,” Sabiu said.
Also to be located within the precinct of the proposed industrial complex, Sabiu said, would be a 50 metric tons per cycle oil refinery with the capacity to process the crude soya bean oil into food grades for domestic consumption by households.
He said the Packaging sections for refined oil and soya bean cake would comprise automatic bagging, weighing and sealing section, injection moulding and blowing sections for plastic containers as well as filling and capping units for the refined oil.
The other facility planned for the complex, the consultant said, includes a 750 tons per day corn mill (25 trucks loads daily capacity) comprising a 250 tons per day line and a 500 tons per day capacity line to produce corn flour and grits of various sizes for domestic and industrial uses (in house, local and international markets).
Other facilities planned for the complex, which would have a 300 tons per hour plant to manufacture high-protein cereal meals and baby food products, include a 500 tons per day production line for animal feeds for cattle, chicken, and fish.
The mill would principally utilize products from the soya bean solvent extraction facility (soya cake) and the corn mill and other additives to produce various grades of feeds for poultry (powdered or pellets), fish (floating) and livestock feeds in powdered or pellet forms.
Besides, noodles’ latest model machinery in three different production lines with the capacity to produce more than one million packets of various sizes of noodles daily for sales in the domestic markets is also planned to be part of the industrial complex.
“Our noodles will utilize some percentage local contents to blend for higher protein and reduce dependence on 100 % imported wheat flour,” Sabiu said.
Also planned for the complex, Sabiu said, would be a 200 tons per day pasta production facility that would use the latest technology to blend local contents and wheat flour to produce high-grade best-in-class healthy pasta of various sizes and shapes for domestic markets.
In addition, a products packaging sacks production facility for various sizes and categories of poly woven sacks (laminated and non-laminated multi-colour) for farmers and agro-processing companies, including
rice mills, in-house flour, soya beans cake, and feed mill sections are also part of the industrial complex, which would also have fully-equipped Administrative, security, weight bridges, and control sections.
Other sections of the complex include those for solvent extraction, refinery, packaging (liquid and powder products), corn mill, feed mill, noodles, pasta, product packaging sacks, Staff overnight quarters, silos and warehouse facilities, waste treatment system as well as other support facilities (mobile conveyors, forklifts and safety equipment, testing laboratories for quality control, logistics for operations safety, maintenance, and security.
To forestall disruption of production operations as a result of an epileptic source of power supply, the complex would be serviced with an independent power generation system, comprising high-capacity generators and transformers control unit, distribution lines, and fuel dump, the consultant said.
Apart from the endorsement by PriceWaterhoueCoopers (PwC) of the business viability and technical feasibility of the proposed industrial complex, Sabiu confirmed the Kaduna State government, through its one-stop investment promotion agency, Kaduna Investment Promotion Agency (KADIPA), was lending its full support to the vision to establish the industrial complex in its domain.
Already, he said under the first phase of the project implementation involving Civil Engineering and equipment procurement, about 85 percent of the first phase of equipment required to get the complex operational have since arrived the country, with the first set of 15 units 40 feet containers at the Kaduna Inland Container Port facility awaiting clearance this week.
He said projections are that the complex would become functional latest by the year-end as the second phase of equipment procurement is expected to be concluded latest in November.
During the inspection visit to the site of the proposed industrial complex by the former State governor, Nasir el-Rufai, the consultant thanked the state government for its effort in making Kaduna a conducive environment for investment.
“TMDK could have situated this plant in a number of other states, but due to your administration’s effort in making Kaduna a conducive environment for investment, we are here today.
“We are very grateful for the support from your team and your government. We want you to consider this plant as part of your legacy to the people of this great state, for both its job and wealth creation opportunities,” he said.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This report was updated.
