Nigeria’s maritime sector would in no distant time witness a major boost which will translate into rapid economic growth for the country on the back of the development of a state-of-the-art Lekki deep seaport project. The seaport will have significant positive macroeconomic impact estimated at $361 billion and create about 163,000 new jobs.
It is scheduled to be operational by third quarter (Q3) 2016. The port is to be located in the Lagos Free Trade Zone at the Lekki corridor.
This much was made known in a statement to newsmen by the managing director of Lekki Port LFTZ Enterprise, Haresh Aswani, during the visit of the Lagos State governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola, to ascertain the level of work at the site.
Aswani said that the Lekki Port, conceptualised as a multi products industrial and logistics hub, would spread across 90 hectares of land and shall be built with an estimated cost of $1.55 billion.
He further said the deep-sea port which will be located 65km east of Lagos Mainland shall become the gateway to West African region and would be one of the most efficient and modern maritime facilities that will cater for containerised, liquid and dry bulk cargo par international standards.
“In addition to bridging the capacity deficit, Lekki Port will have significant positive macroeconomic impact estimated at $361 billion over the entire concession period. It is expected to contribute more than $200 billion to the government exchequer while also creating close to 163,000 new jobs in the economy. The port will spur the economic development around the Lekki sub-region and on a wider perspective, the whole of Lagos State through rapid industrialisation”, he added.
In a bid to ensure, smooth and efficient operations, Lekki Port has engaged the services of leading global consultants in the mould of the Louis Berger Group Inc., Delta Marine Consultants, Berger ABAM and TBA Netherlands and the container terminal has been sub-concessioned to International Container Terminal Services Inc, Philippines, a leader in the container terminal operations with a footprint across the globe. The EPC construction contract has been issued on a turnkey basis to China Harbour Engineering Company which mobilised their men and machinery in August 2012 and is already in the last lap of pre-construction investigations and site preparation activities.
Lekki Port has been conceptualised on the basis of a significant gap in projected demand and capacity needed to be met in conveying goods to and from Nigeria.
AMAKA ANAGOR
