The Lekki Deep Seaport in Lagos Free Trade Zone is going to add about 360bnUSD to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product within 45 years, the Federal Government has announced.
The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, who announced this after inspecting the seaport, also stated that the facility would begin commercial operations in September this year.
Lekki Port L F T Z Enterprise Limited was awarded a 45-year concession of the deep seaport by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) on a Build, Own, Operate and Transfer basis.
Under the agreement, the company is required to Develop, Finance, Build, and Operate and at the end of the concession term, transfer the port to the NPA.
According to him, the port is a privately-funded project and its investors would recoup their money before handing over the seaport to the federal government. Speaking on the need to expand the seaport, Amaechi said the port was not spacious enough to deal with the expected rise in economic activities in the future.
“It also depends on how much the economy will grow before then. The growth of the economy will put pressure on the expansion,” he said.
He said the private sector-funded seaport was being constructed by the schedule, stressing that in three months a lot would have been achieved.
Amaechi said, “I am impressed with what has been done here compared with the last time we came here. There’s a huge improvement.
“And I’m being told by the management that by June we will be expecting the cranes and by September as we agreed, they should commence commercial activities.”
Commenting on the amount which the facility would contribute to the country’s GDP, the minister said, “It will contribute $360bn in 45 years, which sounds much for you but we need more of that money to accomplish what we want to achieve.
“But obviously taxes will be collected here, even (Contractors) will pay taxes, I am not sure there were any taxes mentioned in the agreement, but I doubt there is any tax exemption.
“So, we will collect taxes here, the confidence in giving them the project is because of the taxes that we will collect here, it will help us in the construction of other projects.”
Amaechi further explained that the funding of the seaport was borne by private sector investors, adding that they would recoup their investments over time and they will contribute to the GDP of the nation annually before they hand over to the Federal Government,” minister stated.
“The argument we had in the cabinet is that the need for Lekki was as a result of the fact that the demand for port activities has exceeded the supply of Tincan and Apapa around Lagos.”
“This is the first seaport in Nigeria. What we had all this while are river ports. Tincan is a river port; Apapa is a river port and Port-Harcourt is too.
“Right here, you have 16.5m draft which is good for the country, but the country needs more than just one of these ports because of the increase in commercial activities in the future.
A question was thrown to him: what role is the Federal Government playing in the construction of the seaport, the minister replied, “We are the landlords. We own the land.
“We’ve given them to run and recover their money. So when they recover their money then we take back our investment.”
“As a Minister of Transportation, I imagine a lot of things that I could have implemented. I imagined that the Lagos-Calabar rail line would start from here, that was my imagination. But the Lagos-Calabar rail project needs 11.1 billion funding”, adding that there were no such funds at the moment for the project.
He advised the Port Contractors to invest in the rail sector too. “Another advice I could give is if they want to invest, they can invest in rail, and then the government will either do tax reduction or do something to help them.
“If we get the 11.1billion as it is, we would probably have to divert the rail line, because Lagos-Calabar rail line goes into Lagos city, we can divert it to come to the seaport in Lekki,” he stated.
The Contractors of the Lekki seaport are the China Development Bank, Louis Berger International, China Harbour Engineering Company, and China Communication Construction.
Let’s throw a little insight on the contractors.
China Development Bank is the largest development finance institution in the world and China’s largest bank. China Development Bank is mainly engaged in medium and long-term lending and investment to support the implementation of major strategies for the medium and long-term development of China’s national economy.
China Harbour Engineering Company is a leading provider of full services in Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC), Build Operate Transfer (BOT), and Public Private Partnership (PPP) for both public and private sectors. The company has abundant expertise and experience in other industries as well, such as building, municipal works, environmental, hydraulic engineering, power plant and energy, and resource exploration.
China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) is a leading global comprehensive service provider of ultra-large infrastructure, mainly engaged in the investment, construction, and operation of transportation infrastructure, equipment manufacturing, real estate, and urban comprehensive development. It aims to provide customers with investment financing, consulting planning, design and construction, management and operation package solutions, and integrated services. At present, CCCC is the world’s largest port design and construction company.
Louis Berger has integrated WSP, one of the biggest companies of engineering in the world. Louis Berger International provides its clients appropriate support and solutions to challenging problem. They plan, design, manage and engineer long lasting and impactful solutions to uniquely complex problems.
Speaking Further On The Project, The Minister Of Transportation Noted That Nigeria Need More Deep Sea Port In The Country.
We need just more than Lagos deep seaport and for me, before I leave office I will emphasize on the construction of the Bonny deep seaport,” he stated. Amaechi also lamented that he would have loved to connect the Lekki deep seaport to a rail line but funding of rail projects was currently a challenge for Nigeria.
President Muhammadu Buhari who also visited Lekki Deep Sea in Lagos also praised the efforts of the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, towards making the Lekki Deep Sea Port a reality, and directed him to consult and bring up a memorandum to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to link the facility with the railway network.
In the course of the inspection, the President also received firm assurances that the port will be completed on schedule by September.
