Rivers State Governor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi says industries will need to grow, develop and expand to grow the state economy and address unemployment as he lauded the expansion initiatives of Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals in the State.
At the commissioning ceremony of the Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals new Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) facility, Tuesday, Governor Amaechi said, “what enticed me to come was to see how far you have progressed. Key to us as a government is expansion and the fact that Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals will create new employment opportunities. We believe that as more industries develop in Rivers State that is the way we will be able to reduce the crime rate and once you create employment opportunities you put those employment opportunities in the hands of Rivers people…”
He advised the people of Eleme as host community not to take any action that could frustrate smooth operations of the petrochemical company.
According to him, the legislative arm of government has passed a law to deal with anyone who may foment any kind of trouble to disrupt company operations in the state.
Nonetheless, Governor Amaechi commended the Eleme people for being law abiding. He also urged the Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals Company to discharge its corporate social responsibilities to the host community and the state generally.
“There are some responsibilities and expectations that we think companies must meet to ensure that they have good relationship between them and their host communities. We urge the Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals to live up to these expectations.”
Earlier, Managing Director of Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals, Mr Manish Mundra said in his welcome remarks that the company’s new facility is a major landmark in Nigeria’s step towards industrialization and the company’s own step to becoming one of the largest petrochemical hub in Africa.
Group Managing Director of Indorama Worldwide, Mr Amit Lohia said Nigeria’s quest to become one of the world’s 20 most industrialized nations in 2020 gets an important boost with the Indorama’s PET facility.
He said the PET facility has yearly capacity of 86,000 tonnes with domestic demand at 50,000.
According to him, the Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) is a raisin product out of which plastic bottles can be made.
