With the injection of $221 million into the development of the Lekki Port project, the China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) has now automatically become the largest shareholder in the port.
Speaking to newsmen on Wednesday during a media tour of the project site, Du Ruogang, managing director of the Lekki Port LFTZ Enterprise Limited (LPLEL), confirmed that with the infusion of $221 million, CHEC is now the largest shareholder of the Lekki Port project.
“CHEC is now the largest shareholder of the Lekki port project following the injection of $221 million into the project. With this, we now have 52.2 percent stake in the port project,” he said.
On access to the port, Ruogang said that efforts are in place to expand the road network leading to the port and also connect the port by rail.
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“With Dangote Refinery, which is expected to operate with nothing less than 700 trucks just beside us, we are optimistic that efforts are in place to expand the road networks and also link the port by rail. The road is currently a single lane road network, and we are confident that before port operations commence next year, the road will have been expanded to a two-lane highway to accommodate seamless cargo evacuation from the port while also servicing a cluster of businesses that will spring up around here by next year when the ports become operational,” he said.
According to Ruogang, nobody wants a repeat of the problem in Apapa, adding that the management of the port is working with the Federal, State Governments and the Free Trade Zone landlord is committed to ensuring that everything is put in place.
“The Federal Ministry of Transport is working to ensure that the port is connected to rail. So, it is a work in progress. The construction of the $1.6 billion port project has also seen the completion of the 1,909m long core of the main breakwater.
Recall that the Lekki Port LFTZ Enterprise Limited recently secured a loan of $629 million to finance the ongoing Lekki deep seaport project. The Lekki deep seaport is being built on over 90 hectares of land at the centre of the Lekki Free Trade Zone, approximately 60 kilometres east of Lagos. It is the first deep seaport to be built in Nigeria on Build, Own, and Transfer agreement with 45 years concession period.
Meanwhile, the construction of the initial budgeted $1.6 billion deep seaport began in December 2017 and the project is expected to be completed in 2023 after being reviewed.
The multi-purpose Lekki Port will have three container terminal, three liquid and one dry bulk terminals to serve container vessels of up to 18,000TEUs, dry bulk vessels, and liquid bulk cargo vessels.
A nine kilometres-long and 19 metres -deep navigation channel and a 600m-wide turning basin will be built to allow vessels to approach or leave the port.
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
