A consortium of private investors including AfDB Private Sector Department, the Federal Government of Nigeria and Lagos State are jointly constructing Nigeria's deepest sea port at the Lekki axis of Lagos State.
The new multipurpose port Lekki deep seaport will complement the current Lagos Tin Can and Apapa Ports that are facing serious challenges of congestion, queues and delays. It is designed to leverage a number of physical and economic advantages offered by the region to fundamentally fuel and propel Nigeria's economic sustainability and Vision 2020 aspirations.
A young project architect, Mathew Oluyide, who conducted the AfDB's visit round the site said that "both the Federal and Lagos State Governments have for long identified the maritime sector as having great potentials to boost the country's revenue, steer up its economic stability and business resilience."
Architect Oluyide who designed most housing complexes of the Port project expressed satisfaction that the AfDB is one of the foreign investors that have come on board to see the project as the future of Lagos leveraging their partnership and resources to construct the Lekki Deep Sea Port. He revealed that they are contributing some 60 percent of the entire project construction cost of USD 680 million, while the Federal Government of Nigeria, as well as the Lagos Government would be investing 20 percent each. The foreign investors are spearheaded by the project lead facilitator, the Tolaram Group, which has had several decades of strong and diversified experience in promoting projects like this.
Connecting Nigeria to other African countries
Located at Ibeju, in the heart the Lekki Free Trade Zone, the deep port will provide the necessary maritime gateway connecting Nigeria to other African countries and beyond. When fully operational, the project which will be Nigeria's deepest port and one of Africa's most modern ports, will support the burgeoning trade between Nigeria and the rest of the world.
With favorable geographical and ascendant location to other part of Africa, Europe, Middle East and the Americas, some of the features of Lekki deep port include its 1.5 long breakwater length. It has all modern facilities for deep sea container terminal operation. Explaining some of the port cargo technical terms, Architect Oluyide noted that those facilities have maximum and enhanced capacity to handle container ships that carry heavy goods and heavy machinery.
These will include among others 6 kilometer long approach channels for three container vessels of 8,000 container capacity with each container allowing for 30,500kg. There will also be a 670 meter diameter turning circle for incoming and servicing boats and ships, as well as 1.5 km long quay wall.
Scheduled to be completed in 2016 and commissioned early 2017, the deep sea port project is one of the key infrastructure that are now being located in the Lekki axis to service the Lagos Free Trade Zoneand drive economic growth, service delivery, manufacturing and overall economic and social transformation of Nigeria.
