The promoters of the Lagos Free Trade Zone (LFTZ) have received the approval of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the Lagos State government to build the first private and deep sea port in Lekki, 60 kilometres away from the Lagos metropolis. It would cost them $6 billion on completion. According to the Project Director, Mr. Peter Banham, the port would be ready for commercial activities in 2011 to fully contribute to the success of the Federal Government's Vision 2020 goal. The vision is aimed at making the country one of the 20 top economies in the world.
Banham, who addressed newsmen in Lagos over the weekend, said the port would operate as a hub port besides being the first deep seaport in the country.
The port on completion, would be involved in containers, general cargoes and grains operations.
"The rationale behind the port is to provide a deep water port for Nigeria and allow larger vessels to berth. It is also to relieve the congestion in Lagos/Apapa ports. The site at Lekki is most ideally located to accommodate deep drafted vessels. The undersea contours allow the building of a deep channel most economically at Lekki. Also the port is located to take advantage of the future development of the new Lagos Free Trade Zone", he said.
Banham, who has been in shipping business for over four decades now, said everything has been concluded to enable the construction contract to be awarded in March 2009 as the channel dredging would hopefully commence in July 2010, he added.
According to him: "Phase one will be between 1.2/1.4 million TEUS (20' containers) and approx capable of handling 3,000,000 tons of break-bulk cargo. Phase two, when more land becomes available the port could handle over 2m TEUS, 3,000,000 tons of Bulk and up to 1M tones of liquid cargoes. Apart from approval by the NPA, and Lagos State government, the port project is privately owned and funded", he said.
The Guardian had reported that a group of foreign investors were concluding plans to establish the first deep sea and first hub port in Lagos, Nigeria. It would cost a whooping $6 billion on completion.
The port, being sponsored by investors from the United Kingdom and India and who are already operating multi-national companies in the country, would be ready for public use by the year 2010.
Many of the new port promoters told disclosed that it would be located within the Lagos Free Trade Zone in Lekki area of the metropolis.
Another group of investors working in collaboration with the Ogun and Ondo states government had two years ago proposed another deep sea port at Olokola in the riverine area of Ondo State.
The new port project at Lekki has since received the approval of the Federal Government.
Approved as a private sector initiative, it is being sponsored by Mohan Vaswani, the chairman of Toloram Group, Managing Director of Viva Methanol and Mr. John Mastourodes, an Executive Director of Viva Methanol Limited.
Other promoters of the port project are Mr. A. Sivaram, the Chief Executive Officer of the LFTZ, Mr. Kundan Sainani of Tolaram Group and Mrs. Toyosi Banjoko, a Nigerian. Most of these promoters have lived in Nigeria for over four decades.
The promoters of the port had told newsmen in Lagos during the facility tour that the new port would after completion be the biggest in the whole of West Africa. It may according to them become the first hub port to handle trans-shipment of goods to neighbouring countries.
"We are here to acquaint you with one of the biggest projects at the moment in Nigeria. We are talking about a free trade zone in full progress, a port, which is going to be one of the biggest projects at the moment in Nigeria. We are talking about a free trade zone in full progress, a port, which is going to be one of the biggest ports in West Africa. The ports in Lagos, their capacities are more or less saturated, there is need for expansion of these ports, only the new facilities is the possibilities to add capacities for the ports operation. So this is going to add the capacity of about 1.1 million TEU'S. The port is going to be developed in phases. It would be a multi-purpose port", they said.
A visit to the projects' site in Lekki then revealed that two ultra modern warehouses for the storage of uncleared items, offices for the Customs and Police officials and other government agencies have all being built. Only the quayside are yet to be built.
"Because of the depth of the channel to the port, vessels which until now cannot come to Nigeria, like the post Panamas, Suezmax (the largest naval carriers) can now come into Nigeria. It is a purely private initiative; it is a private free trade zone .It is a $6 billion investment over a period of years. We have already 215 hectares of land and we are looking for additional lands. There are so many other investments coming up in the free trade zone. The major industrial activities that will take place at the LFTZ is the petro-chemical plant which is gas to methanol. That alone is going to be the biggest methanol plant in the world that is number one industrial activity. So in the nearest future, this place is going to become a complete petro-chemical hub. To support all these, we have a port, without a port; there is no way a free trade zone can really develop. So this port started by being something that we wanted to use for ourselves but now it is something that has the support of the government and everybody who said since you are going to put a port, put the one that is going to help decongest our ports in Apapa", said Mastourodes, a former Executive Director of Leventis Group.
The Managing Director of LFTZ, Haresh Aswani, reiterated: "This is a deep-sea water port, with 16 to 17 metre draught, it would accommodate larger size of vessel with the capacity of about 8,000 TEU's. Eventually the customers are going to be benefiting because of the economics of scale. If bigger kind of vessels can be accommodated, relatively it would be less freight cost for them so definitely the cost of doing business in the port will be low because of the Free Trade Zone and the deep sea water port. We would have a Customs command here and all the regulatory bodies would be here like in every other free trade zone".
He assured that the first phase of the port would be ready in 24 months time.
His words: "The first phase of the port will be ready in the next 24 months. When the port is ready, this modern warehouse would be used for the container inspection. We are talking with some shipping companies; we have not concluded talks yet. There are serious discussions going on between us and big shipping lines, but we have not concluded yet. We intend to have our own power plant to meet the requirements of all investors in the zone. We have a 99 years lease of the 215 hectares of land, which is being provided by the Lagos State government and, that was in 2002".
The free trade zone is located in Ikote Village, Ibeju Lekki area, along the Atlantic Coast, over 60km East of Lagos. The port and free trade zone promoters said the facilities in the zone would provide job opportunities for no fewer than 2000 Nigerians on completion.
Banham, who addressed newsmen in Lagos over the weekend, said the port would operate as a hub port besides being the first deep seaport in the country.
The port on completion, would be involved in containers, general cargoes and grains operations.
"The rationale behind the port is to provide a deep water port for Nigeria and allow larger vessels to berth. It is also to relieve the congestion in Lagos/Apapa ports. The site at Lekki is most ideally located to accommodate deep drafted vessels. The undersea contours allow the building of a deep channel most economically at Lekki. Also the port is located to take advantage of the future development of the new Lagos Free Trade Zone", he said.
Banham, who has been in shipping business for over four decades now, said everything has been concluded to enable the construction contract to be awarded in March 2009 as the channel dredging would hopefully commence in July 2010, he added.
According to him: "Phase one will be between 1.2/1.4 million TEUS (20' containers) and approx capable of handling 3,000,000 tons of break-bulk cargo. Phase two, when more land becomes available the port could handle over 2m TEUS, 3,000,000 tons of Bulk and up to 1M tones of liquid cargoes. Apart from approval by the NPA, and Lagos State government, the port project is privately owned and funded", he said.
The Guardian had reported that a group of foreign investors were concluding plans to establish the first deep sea and first hub port in Lagos, Nigeria. It would cost a whooping $6 billion on completion.
The port, being sponsored by investors from the United Kingdom and India and who are already operating multi-national companies in the country, would be ready for public use by the year 2010.
Many of the new port promoters told disclosed that it would be located within the Lagos Free Trade Zone in Lekki area of the metropolis.
Another group of investors working in collaboration with the Ogun and Ondo states government had two years ago proposed another deep sea port at Olokola in the riverine area of Ondo State.
The new port project at Lekki has since received the approval of the Federal Government.
Approved as a private sector initiative, it is being sponsored by Mohan Vaswani, the chairman of Toloram Group, Managing Director of Viva Methanol and Mr. John Mastourodes, an Executive Director of Viva Methanol Limited.
Other promoters of the port project are Mr. A. Sivaram, the Chief Executive Officer of the LFTZ, Mr. Kundan Sainani of Tolaram Group and Mrs. Toyosi Banjoko, a Nigerian. Most of these promoters have lived in Nigeria for over four decades.
The promoters of the port had told newsmen in Lagos during the facility tour that the new port would after completion be the biggest in the whole of West Africa. It may according to them become the first hub port to handle trans-shipment of goods to neighbouring countries.
"We are here to acquaint you with one of the biggest projects at the moment in Nigeria. We are talking about a free trade zone in full progress, a port, which is going to be one of the biggest projects at the moment in Nigeria. We are talking about a free trade zone in full progress, a port, which is going to be one of the biggest ports in West Africa. The ports in Lagos, their capacities are more or less saturated, there is need for expansion of these ports, only the new facilities is the possibilities to add capacities for the ports operation. So this is going to add the capacity of about 1.1 million TEU'S. The port is going to be developed in phases. It would be a multi-purpose port", they said.
A visit to the projects' site in Lekki then revealed that two ultra modern warehouses for the storage of uncleared items, offices for the Customs and Police officials and other government agencies have all being built. Only the quayside are yet to be built.
"Because of the depth of the channel to the port, vessels which until now cannot come to Nigeria, like the post Panamas, Suezmax (the largest naval carriers) can now come into Nigeria. It is a purely private initiative; it is a private free trade zone .It is a $6 billion investment over a period of years. We have already 215 hectares of land and we are looking for additional lands. There are so many other investments coming up in the free trade zone. The major industrial activities that will take place at the LFTZ is the petro-chemical plant which is gas to methanol. That alone is going to be the biggest methanol plant in the world that is number one industrial activity. So in the nearest future, this place is going to become a complete petro-chemical hub. To support all these, we have a port, without a port; there is no way a free trade zone can really develop. So this port started by being something that we wanted to use for ourselves but now it is something that has the support of the government and everybody who said since you are going to put a port, put the one that is going to help decongest our ports in Apapa", said Mastourodes, a former Executive Director of Leventis Group.
The Managing Director of LFTZ, Haresh Aswani, reiterated: "This is a deep-sea water port, with 16 to 17 metre draught, it would accommodate larger size of vessel with the capacity of about 8,000 TEU's. Eventually the customers are going to be benefiting because of the economics of scale. If bigger kind of vessels can be accommodated, relatively it would be less freight cost for them so definitely the cost of doing business in the port will be low because of the Free Trade Zone and the deep sea water port. We would have a Customs command here and all the regulatory bodies would be here like in every other free trade zone".
He assured that the first phase of the port would be ready in 24 months time.
His words: "The first phase of the port will be ready in the next 24 months. When the port is ready, this modern warehouse would be used for the container inspection. We are talking with some shipping companies; we have not concluded talks yet. There are serious discussions going on between us and big shipping lines, but we have not concluded yet. We intend to have our own power plant to meet the requirements of all investors in the zone. We have a 99 years lease of the 215 hectares of land, which is being provided by the Lagos State government and, that was in 2002".
The free trade zone is located in Ikote Village, Ibeju Lekki area, along the Atlantic Coast, over 60km East of Lagos. The port and free trade zone promoters said the facilities in the zone would provide job opportunities for no fewer than 2000 Nigerians on completion.