A Loan Agreement worth’s$629 million dollars was signed recently between China Development Bank , Lagos State Government and LFTZ Enterprise Limited on the development of facilities on Lekki Deep seaport .The loan is to accelerate speedy completion of the first deep seaport in Nigeria to ease the pressure on Apapa seaport.
The Lekki Deep Seaport, when completed, will have two container berths of 680-meter long and 16.5 meter dept. Also it will have the capacity of berthing fifth generation container ships with the capacity of 18,000 TEU ship.
Reacting to the loan agreement, Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo- Olu said the signing of the agreement is another milestone for the state in infrastructural development and commerce; it has also ended a period of uncertainty that had followed the delivery of the project.
He further said that his government is in total support of the project and will try all their best to ensure the delivery within 30 months as was stated in the signed agreement.
The Chairman of China Harbour Engineering Company, that own majority shares in the project, Mr Lin Yichong said that the Chinese Engineering firm took interest to invest in the deep seaport to enable Nigeria strengthen its maritime infrastructure and business.
The project is expected to impact greatly on Nigeria economy by creating more jobs and generating more revenue for the state.
The signing of the agreement was witnessed by the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, Counsel General of China Embassy in Lagos, Mr Chu Maoming and representative of key stakeholders in the project.
Ifeme Jane
FIC Lagos
