New Telegraph

Lekki Port to boost economy by $361bn

As part of efforts to speed up the construction of Lekki Deep Sea Port, which is expected to commence operation next year, China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) has injected $221 million into the project, BAYO AKOMOLAFE reports

Lekki Port, situated 65 kilometers east of Lagos city on a 90-hectare of land at the Lagos Free Trade Zone (LFTZ), is slated to be completed in Q3’22, while commercial operation will commence in the fourth quarter of the same year. When fully operational, the port would address the current challenges faced by importers and exporters at Lagos and Tincan Island ports. Before now, Nigerian ports have been classified among the worst ports in the world due to challenges bordering on delay of import/export processes, heavy congestion around the ports, gridlock, insecurity, bureaucratic red tape, high costs, illegal charges, corruption and infractions among government officials and port users. For instance, the 2015-2017 World Bank study revealed that the country was losing about N600 billion in customs revenue, estimated $10 billion for non-oil export and about N2.5 trillion corporate revenue in the industry on an annual basis, while utilisation stands at 38-40 per cent.

New development

Notwithstanding, with the coming up of Lekki Port’s $1.5 billion public private partnership (PPP) project between the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), the Lagos State government and the Tolaram Group, it is envisaged that Nigeria will become the hub of maritime activities. The port, it was learnt, would change the narrative of Nigeria’s maritime sector and consequently impact Nigeria’s economic development. According to the Managing Director of the Port, Mr Du Ruogang, Lekki Port is estimated to have an aggregate economic impact of $362 billion over 45 years, creating not less than 170,000 jobs and approximately $201 billion in revenue to state and federal agencies from taxes, royalties and duties. He noted: “Lekki Port is to create direct and indirect business revenue impact of $158 billion in Nigeria when it becomes operational, “ he added. Also, approximately $20 billion is to be spent by the port on employee salaries during the concession period.

Latest investment

He explained that as part of efforts to speed up the construc-tion of the port, the China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) had injected $221 million into the port.

Construction

During a tour to assess the level of progress on the construction work at the Lekki Port project site, Ruogang explained that construction work on the project had so far moved at a fast pace, reaching 51 per cent completion. He added that some major milestones such as completion of Eastern breakwater had been achieved. The managing director stressed that all hands were on deck to deliver first of its kind deep sea port in Nigeria as one of the shareholders, the Nigerian Ports Authority had commenced work to initiate marine services at the site.

Port facilities

Ruogang said that the port’s container terminal would have a 1,200 metres long quay for three container berths and a storage yard with over 15,000 ground slots. In addition, he added that the terminal was designed to support a throughput of 2.7 million Twenty Equivalent Units (TEUs) annually, while the dry bulk terminal will have an available quay length of about 300 metres would accommodate one berth for a Panamax size vessel of 75,000 dead weight, adding that port’s liquid berths would service vessels of up to the size of 45,000 deadweight with design flexibility for expansions, catering to an increase of a capacity of 160,000 deadweight. According to him, five-ship to shore cranes and 15 rubber tyre gantry cranes are being put in place to ensure ease in cargo evacuation, thus enhancing operation at the port. The managing director noted that 55.75 per cent of the dredging and reclamation had so far been done while construction of the quay wall has reached 43.14 per cent, saying that landside infrastructure made up of administrative buildings, sewage treatment plant, container yards among others for the project were ongoing with completion reaching 27.18 per cent. He stressed that the project had succeeded in providing employment opportunities for about 1,200 Nigerians with 50 of them from the host community. Ruogang added that the delivery of the port project would go a long way in helping the nation to bridge the gap in the country’s maritime infrastructure in the shortest time possible. He noted that the deepening of infrastructure footprints by the Babajide Sanwo-Olu-led administration, both within the environment where the project is located and other axis of the state was a strong pointer that the state government was committed to the development of the port and its underlying socio- economic potentials. He said: “This is remarkable, considering that Lagos is home to only 10 per cent of the population of Nigeria. “Majority of Nigeria’s manufacturing is based in Lagos as well as many service industries such as finance. All of these factors combined to encourage industry to locate in Lagos, and that is the reason we are here to look forward to the future possibilities.”

Transhipment

It was learnt that the port would increase commercial operations in Lagos, across the country and the entire West African region when become operational next year. According to him, the berth will be equipped with loading arms and connected by pipelines running along the breakwater to carry cargoes between tank farms and the vessels, saying that there would be in-built technology that allows for screening and processing, which will promote efficient movement of goods within 48 hour.

Last line

There is need by the Federal Government to provide an enabling environment that will make the port the hub in West Africa.

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