Ondo announces plan to float vehicle assembly plant soon

The Ondo State government has announced its plan to begin to assemble different cars and trucks at the Ondo/Linyi industrial hub in Ore by June.

Chief Alex Ajipe, Manager of the industrial hub, made the disclosure on Saturday while speaking with some online journalists in Akure, Ondo.

Ajipe said that the project was part of the Bi-City Agreement signed between the state government and the Mayor of Linyi in China, in 2017.

“In November 2019, we got a licence for the automobile assembly plant. We called it Win-Tech.

“From the message we got from our agent in China, the first consignment will arrive in Lagos port by March 1. So with the clearing and every other thing, at the end of March, we should have consignment here in Ondo State.

“We are starting with 200 trucks by May or June this year. I can assure you that this will be the first assembled trucks we will be seeing in Ondo State. We will also assemble SUV, saloon cars and many others as well,” he said.

Ajipe said that the agreement had started creating job opportunities for the citizens, with the potentials to increase the state’s internally- generated revenue.

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He said that many industries involved in processing cassava to ethanol had started production at the industrial hub.
Ajipe, who said that about seven different companies were already operating at Ore industrial hub, added that no fewer than 100 investors had subscribed to the hub’s second phase.

“The textile industry is part of the bi-city project which Akeredolu signed. They started with different kinds of thread, but at the moment, they are manufacturing lace materials. They will go into the manufacturing of Ankara materials in the next phase.

“About 80 percent of workers in the textile industry is female from the state, and we are going to raise about 10,000 cotton farmers, as that is the major material to be used in the industry.

“So it will enable us to do complete clothing materials without looking for materials from other states.

“About ethanol, we are taking 1,500 metric tonnes of cassava daily basis, and we are producing 300 metric tonnes of ethanol on a daily basis,” he said.

Ajipe said that the industrial hub would engage about 20,000 direct workers when completed.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that President Muhammadu Buhari had, on Feb. 25, inaugurated the Ondo/Linyi industrial hub, among other projects in the state.