China to build Lagos’ Lekki deep sea port

A $1,100 million deal.

Nigeria’s Lekki deep sea harbour, planned as West Africa’s biggest port, is to be built by a Chinese consortium in a $630m loan agreement signed with the China Development Bank.

The funds will allow the long-discussed project finally to see the light, with 2022 projected for the start of the first phase of port activity, finally relieving the pressure on Lagos’ crowded Apapa and Tin Can Island ports.

With two 680 mt-long berths and a depth of over 16 mt, Lekki will be able to load or unload the fifth generation of container ships carrying up to 18,000 standard containers, or TEU (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units, used to measure a ship's cargo-carrying capacity).

In a first phase, the harbour is planned to process 1.2m TEU a year, reaching 2.5m in the second phase. Work has already started on building the breakwaters for the port.

The construction is to be carried out by Singapore-based developer Tolaram Group and state-owned construction firm China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC). CHEC has also agreed to an extra $470m investment in return for a concession contract lasting 45 years.

Lekki will be Tolram’s first project in infrastructure building after previous experience in instant noodles, a staple of the Nigerian diet. The company will hold a 22.5 per cent share of the port ownership.      

This is the biggest development Tolaram has ever undertaken, far from its roots as a textile trader founded by Indians in Indonesia in the 1940s. Tolaram operates in nine countries, recently expanding to Egypt, and has plans to move into Ethiopia and Kenya. Nigeria accounts for $900m of the group’s $1.1bn annual sales, reports the Financial Times.

The new port, along with a neighbouring eight-km² free trade zone, is expected to create over 200,000 jobs and generate some $350bn in revenue for the state, Lakki Port Board chair Biodun Dabiri told media.

Photo: The future Lekki Port