The newly inaugurated airport terminal has been described as a major project that could boost economic development in Lagos State and Nigeria at large.
China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation Ltd, (CCECC) had described Lagos as the commercial capital and the country’s largest city, a world-famous hub, noting that the old terminal has been in use for 44 years, which made an upgrade necessary.
The architectural acreage for the new terminal is 50,887 m². It is a multi-functional modern international airport including hotels, restaurants, and leisure.
Stakeholders say the smooth launch of the new terminal will play an important role in promoting the economic prosperity of Lagos, reviving the economy of the city, the South West region, and Nigeria in epidemic control and healthy aviation operations, strengthening foreign trade, foreign cultural exchanges, and tourism development as well as enhancing the trade and tourist links between Nigeria and the world.
It would further help to shorten the geographical gap between the country and the rest of the world as the new terminal would be a new aviation landmark in Africa.
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Cui Jianchun, the ambassador, People’s Republic of China had described the project as a typical footprint of the “Belt and Road,” which has added new momentum to the friendly economic and trade relations between China and Nigeria and has become another example of the in-depth development of China-Nigeria in infrastructure, economy, and trade.
A Nigerian who worked on the building of the new terminal explained that he is excited to see the project become a reality. He described the lobby as “spacious and bright, cool and comfortable; from the sight to the feel, it’s wonderful.
“The beautiful glass curtain wall, the modern facilities are world-class. It’s incredible that Nigeria has such a beautiful terminal, and I am looking forward to experiencing travel from here. Everything feels so perfect, like a dream.”
During the construction and implementation of the project, CCECC Nigeria said the project team surmounted many difficulties, such as the small site, requisition and relocation, large flow of human traffic day and night, and complicated underground pipe network.
However, through the measures of scientific planning, sectional construction, changing the pipeline network at night time, and the provision of temporary passenger paths, the team executed the project with diligence and overcame all the difficulties to ensure the smooth completion of the project.
During the construction process, the company insisted on taking root in the local area, building a talent training platform, cultivating a large number of outstanding talents for the local area, and helping to build a “China-Nigeria Community of Common Destiny.”
According to Cui Jianchun, with Nigeria’s huge population, resources, landscape and tourist attractions, the new terminals will attract more passengers to Nigeria, especially as the world opens to travel.
The ambassador said every year, China records about 103 million outbound travels.
He said if only one percent of these travellers come to Nigeria, it means Nigeria would be seeing 1.3 million inbound travels annually just from China, adding that to make this happen, China has decided to invest in Nigeria’s hospitality sector to boost tourism and travel between China and Nigeria.
He assured that the Chinese love to visit Africa and China is committed to ensure the right infrastructures are put in place to drive international travels between both countries.
