By Yemi Olakitan and Hauwa Ali
The Lekki Seaport project, is a partnership between the Lagos State Government and a Singaporean investor, Tolaram Group, which aims to relieve the current congestion in Apapa Quay, also known as Apapa Wharf, Lagos, Nigeria’s major port.
The Nigerian ports authorities (NPA) awarded the Lekki Deep Seaport Project to Lekki Port LFTZ Enterprise Limited (LPLEL) under a “Build, Own, Operate, and Transfer (BOOT)” arrangement.
According to the terms of the deal, LPLEL is obligated to plan, fund, build, and operate the port for 45 years before handing it over to NPA.
At the core of the Lagos Free Trade Zone, about 60 kilometres east of Lagos, the Lekki deep sea port is being constructed over 90 hectares of land.
Nature News gathered that the multi-purpose deep sea port will serve as an important gateway for containerized, dry and liquid bulk cargo vessels.
When operational, the Lekki deep seaport will become one of the most modern ports in West Africa and support the growth of commercial operations in the region. Construction of the $1.5bn deep sea port began in December 2017 and the project was expected to be completed in 2020 but due to the covid-19 pandemic, it was pushed forward to 2022.
Nature News had a chat with veteran journalist Mr. Olusegun Isiyemi, who described the development as a step in the right direction.
According to him, the set up will expose Nigeria to world market, not only Lagos. In his words, “the entire west African sub region is looking up to Lagos state. It is the fourth largest economy in Africa and its continued growth and development will benefit the sub-continent. There are many countries with smaller populations that have lots of sea ports that have impacted positively in their economies. It is excellent that Lagos state is moving in that direction.’’
Speaking further, Mr. Isiyemi said, ‘’some, may think that the Lekki Deep port will affect Benin Republic negatively but I don’t think so. On the contrary It will contribute to their economy as well, because Benin Republic’s economy is directly or indirectly linked to Lagos economy and Nigeria as a whole’’
In another chat with Pa Ogunjobi, economist and social critic, he said the project is worthwhile and that it will decongest the Apapa Port and Tin can Island. He applauded the Government of Lagos state for building the Lekki deep sea port, the Badagry sea port, the Lekki Airport and all the other projects in that axis which he described as extraordinary, as the projects will open up Lagos state to more businesses, trade and commerce and will impact on the economy of the whole nation.
Many are hopeful that the new Lekki deep-sea port, set to open early next year will end maritime congestion in Lagos where Cargo ships currently wait as much as a month offshore before off-loading; but the planned opening of the Port in March, has the potential to slash wait times to two days, as Mohammed Bello-Koko, Managing Director of NPA, said in an interview recently.
“It changes everything because Lekki will be faster, it has more space, and it is more modern,”
The first phase of the $1.5 billion project will have a capacity of 1.2 million 20-foot containers, more than double the capacity of the country’s existing ports.
Inefficiency, corruption, decaying infrastructure and congestion at the Lagos ports, have led to cargoes bound for Nigeria being diverted to Ghana and Togo, costing billions in lost revenues and raising local prices. The Lekki port will reverse the trend, Bello-Koko said.
Recall that the Lagos State governor, Mr. Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, signed the $629 million financing facility with the Chinese Development Bank aimed at the completion of the Lekki Deep Seaport project in 2019.
According to the agreement, in 30 months, Nigeria’s first deep seaport will be delivered in Lekki free zone. The signing of the agreement has, no doubt, put to rest all kinds of reservations concerning the speedy delivery of the seaport venture.
Upon completion, the project has enormous capacity not only to stimulate the Lagos economy, but help boost Nigerian economy currently grappling with soaring inflation, stagnating growth and slumping foreign investment and equally push it up in the index of largest economies in the world. The Lekki port would become the first deep seaport in Nigeria and the container transportation hub in Africa.
The multi-purpose Lekki port will have container, liquid and dry bulk terminals to serve container vessels of up to 8,000TEUs (twenty foot equivalent units), dry bulk vessels, and liquid bulk cargo vessels.
A 9km-long and 19m-deep navigation channel and a 600m-wide turning basin will be built to allow vessels to approach or leave the port. A 1,500m breakwater structure and a 300m secondary breakwater structure will be constructed for safe handling of vessels.
Other facilities at the port will include a 6km-long and 14.5m-deep approach channel, quay wall, cargo handling cranes, and three 19m-deep liquid jetties.
Three container berths will be featured at the container terminal, including a 1,200m-long and 16m-deep quay wall, 13 quay cranes, and a storage yard with a capacity of 15,000 ground slots. The storage space can be increased by stacking containers. The container terminal will be able to handle 2.7 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) a year.
Undoubtedly, the development of the seaport is strategic to the growth of Lekki Free Trade Zone. The project, which is expected to make immense impact on the nation’s economy, is capable of creating more than 200,000 jobs and generate about $350 billion dollars in revenue for the state over the period of the concession.
Experts also opined that the project is strategic for the economic growth of Lekki Free Zone, as it would support the massive industrial and petrochemical complex being embarked on, in the Northern and Southern quadrant of the zone with investment over the next three years peaking at over $20 billion dollars.
With Lekki Airport in view, there will be an emergence of a Harbor City which would be internationally connected by air and also with world-class integrated transport network of roads, rail and bridges.
It will also generate up to $201 billion dollars in revenue to state and federal agencies through taxes, duties and royalties which in turn will boost the GDP of the nation.