Nigeria’s $1.5bn Lekki Deep Seaport Completed, Ready For Commissioning
The engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor for Lekki Port, The China Habour Engineering LFTZ Enterprise (CHELE), a division of China Habour Engineering Company Limited (CHEC), has declared the port’s construction to be complete after years of work.
With the completion, Lekki Port, one of West Africa’s largest deep-sea ports, is now ready for commissioning.
Mr. Wu Di, Vice President of CHEC who is also a director of Lekki Port, disclosed this during the construction completion ceremony held on Monday, 31 October, 2022, at the Port located at Itoke Village, Ibeju Lekki.
Di disclosed that the construction of the Port was officially started on 15 June, 2020, and was completed on Monday, October 24, 2022. He revealed that the total contract value of the EPC for the project’s first phase is 581 million US dollars.
He added that the completion of the construction will now pave the way for the container terminal operator, the Lekki Free Port Terminal (a subsidiary of CMA/CGM group), to take over the Port in readiness for the start of port operations.
So how will it affect the cost of land?
Everywhere in the world, the price of real estate has increased anytime big local developments take place. Ibeju Lekki would not be an exception as the demand for real estate will shoot up astronomically.
According to reports, the seaport alone will create 170,000 jobs and bring revenues totalling $201 billion to the state and FG through taxes, royalties, and duties. The direct and induced business revenue impact is estimated at $158 billion, in addition to a qualitative impact on manufacturing, trade and commercial services sector.
To put it differently, the more than 160,000 new jobs would require housing for the, and the majority of them would bring families who would require access to both stores and schools. The cost of land in the area will eventually rise due to this increased demand.
With the ports and Dangote refinery both nearly finished, it won’t be long before the days when land in Ibeju Lekki sold for 1 million naira are relegated to folklore.
