TINAPA / Obudu Cattle Ranch
Resort And Other 5Star Hotels Countdown On
Nigerian Tourist Attractions.
TINAPA And Obudu Ranch Located by the Calabar
river and adjacent to the Calabar Free Trade Zone
(CFTZ), the "City of TINAPA" project, situated right
next to the Calabar Free Port in Adiabo community of
Cross River State can simply be described as a
'breath-taking' idea for tourism in Nigeria and Africa
as a whole.
The eco-tourism project, which is the brainchild of
the Cross River State Governor, Mr. Donald Duke, is
being developed as an integrated business and leisure
resort and is considered to be in the first of its
kind in Nigeria and the greater West and Central
African sub-regions. Its strategic location in
Calabar, in the West African sub-region, and proximity
to central Africa, coupled with the huge market
potential of the two sub-regions, makes the TINAPA
Business Resort an attractive investment.
The complex upon completion is expected to provide
international standard wholesale emporiums, integrated
shopping complexes and products distribution elements,
supported by business tourism and entertainment
facilities.
The location of these, in close proximity to a free
port on the east-west trading routes provides exciting
opportunities for TINAPA to serve as the distribution
point into Nigeria for the growing economic hub of
West Africa, and also as the ultimate centre for
retail and wholesales commercial activities with the
ECOWAS sub-region, taking full advantage of the
international agreement on free movement.
In addition, TINAPA will incorporate a special
purpose vehicle (SPV) for investment opportunities,
which will be granted Free Trade Zone status.
The implication of such a move for investors will
include among others: exemption from all Federal,
State and Local Government taxes, levies and rates;
entitlement to approved enterprises to import, free of
custom duty, any capital goods, consumer goods, raw
materials, components and articles intended to be used
with an approved activity; freedom from legislative
provision pertaining to taxes, levies, duties and
foreign exchange regulation; repatriation of foreign
capital on investments in the zone at any time;
unrestricted remittance of profits earned by
investors, no import or export license, rent free land
during the construction stage, there after rent shall
be determined by the management of the zone etc.
In a nutshell, through the SPV, TINAPA will provide
investors with a robust platform to capture the latent
demand in the Nigerian and West African states. It
will also provide an unprecedented opportunity for
tenants to be part of one of the most exciting retail
developments in West Africa (which will cover a vast
area exceeding 80,000m2), as trading will take place
in state-of-the-art-facilities whilst tax benefits and
access to large markets, both in Nigeria and
regionally, will create a once-in-a-life time
opportunity for tenants to maximize investment
returns.
TINAPA, which is modeled after similar resort
centres in Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, Bombay and
Bangkok, is conceptualized as an integrated business
and tourism set&endash;up where visitors from within
and outside the country would have the opportunity to
shop for goods of various kinds of international
standard in a friendly environment which offers full
leisure, thereby achieving a perfect integration of
serious business and leisure.
In order to maximize its potential, the development
of TINAPA has been split into phases.
Phase one will consist of the following developments:
a warehouse cluster of five warehouses located within
the Calabar FTZ; an integrated shopping complex of
over 80,000m2 of retail and wholesale emporiums plus
an entertainment centre which includes cinemas, food
court, games arcade among others; a 150 room two star
hotel: a 200 room self&endash;catering apartment
hotel; indoor and outdoor leisure facilities including
a water park, golf park and go-kart trade;
restaurants, big screen cinemas and other
entertainments facilities; a cultural village; support
services and amenities including sick bay and
management offices.
Subsequent phases will include; a hotel and
conference complex; two luxury lodges; expanded
leisure and entertainment facilities including water
sports, quad biking and archery; expanded cultural and
educational components including an aviary, aquarium,
crocodile farm and primate rehabilitation centre.
Ambitious as the project seems, the idea of TINAPA
itself did not come in a day. It had actually been
part of a long-held plan by the Cross River State
Governor to harness the enormous tourism potentials of
the state and translate them into economic benefits
for the Government and people of Cross River
State.
According to Governor Duke, upon assumption of
office in 1999, he was appalled to find that the state
was depending almost entirely on the federation
account.
As a way of developing the economy of the state, he
consequently resolved to focus on two areas of the
state's economy namely: agriculture - because of its
centrality as employer of over 80 percent of the
state's population, and tourism - because of its
potentials to launch the state into the comity of fast
moving economies of Africa.
Duke's dream to transform Cross River into a
tourism wonderland subsequently materialized sometime
in 2003, when he appointed a team of experts and
consultants to conduct a study on the establishment of
an integrated business and tourism resort.
The committee submitted its report in the course of
the year, with a strong recommendation of the economic
viability of the project.
The adoption of the committee's report led to a
firm investment decision by the state government to
embark on the project. TINAPA Business Resort was
consequently incorporated as a limited liability
company with Mr. Chris Anani as Managing Director.
Following its incorporation, a historic ceremony
was held in January 2004, during which Gitto
Construction Company, an Italian firm, was contracted
to kick-start the project especially site surveys and
clearance, sand filling and primary access roads.
This was followed by the constitution of a board of
directors for the company under the chairmanship of
Chief Festus Odimegwu, the Managing Director of
Nigeria Breweries Plc. Also on the board are business
moguls such as Kunle Elebute, Ahmed Dasuki and Arnold
Meg, the Chief Operating Officer of Brawl, one of
South Africa's largest facility managers, and the
Commissioner for Trade in the State who represents the
interest of the state government as project
promoters.
The TINAPA dream finally became reality on Thursday
January 15, 2005, when the cream of Nigeria's business
community gathered at the construction site of the
TINAPA Business and Tourism Resort in Adiabo, Calabar
Municipality to witness the contract signing ceremony
between Cross River State and construction giant,
Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, for the construction of
roads and infrastructural facilities at the
complex.
The event which brought together key personalities
from corporate Nigeria, state governors, top
government functionaries, religious and traditional
authorities and professionals of various callings,
certainly left no one in doubt as to the strategic
importance of the project, as it afforded many the
opportunity of having an early feel of the TINAPA
action.
Describing the project as one of the
best-conceptualized projects he had ever seen in the
17years of his stay in Nigeria, the Managing Director
of Julius Berger, Mr. George Marks, remarked that
TINAPA had "profound planning, excellent marketing
strategies and sound feasibility study".
With the estimated cost put at over $125 billion
(N16.6 billion), TINAPA is clearly one of the biggest
investments on the African continent.
Recently, the Federal Government and Cross River
State jointly signed a $110 million loan agreement
with the ECOWAS Regional Development Fund (ERDF) - a
subsidiary of ECOWAS Bank for Investment and
Development (EBID).
The loan agreement which is equivalent to 6,525,371
units of account was signed by Gov. Duke and the
Minister for Cooperation and Integration in Africa,
Senator Lawan Gana Guba on behalf of the Cross Rivers
Government and the Federal Government, while Mr.
Christian Adevolande and Mr. Bathelemy Drabo signed
for EBID and ERDF.
Speaking during the signing of the loan agreement,
Gov. Duke said that TINAPA has brought meaning to the
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
noting that the sub region has achieved crucial
milestones in integration, free movement and
trade.
He also said President Obasanjo had assured that
the project would be made a New Economic Partnership
for African Development (NEPAD) project for economic
integration in the continent.
In his remarks, the EBID President, Mr. Christian
Adevolande said the TINAPA project was an example of
the support for trade by the bank in the sub-region,
adding that the development will enhance the position
of ECOWAS in world trade.
Back home, the TINAPA project has also been
receiving financial support. The Central Bank has
approved a number of banks to make a total investment
of N5.3 billion into the project and Standard Trust
Bank Plc has provided a N5 billion bridge financing
facility to ensure a steady progression of
construction work at the site. Private placement
offers have also been made and arrangements concluded
to list the TINAPA Business Resort Limited (TBRL) on
the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
The economic prospects of TINAPA are undoubtedly
bright. At the project signing ceremony, Gov. Duke
disclosed that the state was targeting at least N300
billion annually from the economic and commercial
activities that would be generated at the TINAPA.
Hinging his optimism on the feasibility report that at
least 3 million people were expected to visit TINAPA
annually, the Governor reckoned that if each of those
visitors were to carry a minimum of N100, 000 for
shopping and leisure (which is by all accounts
modest), that would translate into about N300 billion
annual inflows into the state.
If the multiplier effect of 3.5 percent was to be
applied, then the inflows, according to Gov. Duke,
would run into trillions of naira in the first few
years after the scheduled launching of the project in
September, 2006 - a development the Governor feels the
natives of Cross River State should be able to take
economic advantage of.
Jim Plannery, a United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) delegate, who was on President
Olusegun Obasanjo's entourage that toured the TINAPA
project site in Calabar, recently, also shares
Governor Duke's views on the economic viability of
TINAPA.
"TINAPA is like giving a message to potential
investors to come and multiply," he said. While
describing the project as a great vision, which is
capable of transforming Nigeria, Plannery said the
United Nations had always given endorsement to
projects geared towards sustainable development,
observing that the tourism resort presents great
potentials and business value for investors from
across the globe who would want to put their money in
a place with a promise.
Although TINAPA is the "largest single investment
on eco-tourism in West Africa" according to Governor
Duke, it is only a part of the Governor's dream to
make Cross River State a tourism haven. The other
aspects of the big dream is the tourism circuit, which
entails the development of the Ranch and Leisure
Resort at Obudu, the forest canopy walkway, the cable
car project at the Obudu Ranch as well as the water
front, also in the Ranch.
The Ranch itself has been transformed from a small
tourist scene to a Presidential holiday resort with
accommodating rooms increased from 80 to over 200. An
airstrip has also been constructed to enable landing
of big aircrafts, the facilities of which are being
managed by Protea Hotels Group
The cable car has already been commissioned by
President Olusegun Obasanjo and is expected to convey
passengers from the bottom drive stations to the top
drive stations. Statistics of the Obudu Cattle Ranch
Resort Cable Car, which was constructed by Ponet
Nigeria Limited, show that it ascends 1,600 metres
high and covers a distance of 4 kilometers. It also
drives a speed of 5.00 metres per second, carries 8
passengers per car, with an elevation of twelve
towers, 50.00 metres of rope diameter of rope diameter
and has 34 transparent cars.
The forest canopy walk way is another project which
aims to bring tourists in direct contact with the wild
life package the state has to offer. There is also a
waterfront being built at the base of the mountain to
add to the leisure package of the Obudu Ranch.
The commitment of the Governor to these projects is
underscored by the N1 billion budgetary provisions he
made this year for completion of work.
On the future of the Ranch, Governor Duke made it
clear that it would be privatized to avoid Government
interference. "When I go to the Ranch I pay,
otherwise, my Commissioners and other top Government
functionaries would take advantage," he stated.
He equally gives assurances about the
sustainability of the TINAPA project. TINAPA he
explains, was conceived to be a classic example of
private-public partnership (PPP) whereby the State
Government would promote and drive the initiative, but
the ownership would be shared by other equity holders,
adding that the project will survive regardless of
whoever takes over in 2007 because of its relevance to
the state and national economy.
He restated that all the projects he is putting in
place would outlive his tenure as measures have been
put in place to ensure that the emerging governments
after him promote and sustain the investments.
The countdown towards the scheduled launching of
the TINAPA Business Resort Limited in September 2006
has already begun and preparations are in top gear to
usher in the event. One thing stands clear in the
midst of the excitement &endash; Calabar and the
Nigerian tourism industry will definitely be given a
new lease of life through the TINAPA project
...
n
travel and tourism as in life, there are more than one
ways to get to the top! In Cross River State, Nigeria
there's the long and winding way up the Devils's Elbow.
Then there's the high speed gondola - and for the high
and mighty there's a helicopter pad near the conference
center. You can also land at a nearby airfield. My first
visit to Nigeria was in the fall of 2006, and as luck
would have it, the city that won the opportunity to host
our ATA Eco Cultural Symposium was Calabar in Cross River
State. What is so unique about Calabar? For one thing it
is an example of good management, zero tolerance in some
key areas and a spirit of optimism far ahead of most
destinations we have visited. Credit must go to our host
for the event, Governor Donald Duke, who introduced and
championed a number of creative ideas. One of them is
pictured on this page - a state-of-the-art gondola lift
that whisks visitors up to the high plateau where the
Obudu Cattle Ranch, established decades ago, has been
transformed into a spectacular tourism and world class
attraction for important meetings and summits. The lodge
operated by South Africa's Protea Hotels group has been
resorted and, as expected, the hospitality is
outstanding. More information? Please visit
http://crossriverstate.com/obudu.htm - or
www.africa-ata.org/nigeria.htm
ast
track growth of the tourism sector in Calabar, Cross
River State and Nigeria.