Construction completed on Nigeria’s $1.5 billion Lekki Deep Sea Port project
A view of the Lekki Deep Sea Port project on June 3, 2014. Photo: Jonathan Olutunde, ABS-CBN News/Philippine Investment Corp.
Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, has signed an agreement with the Nigerian government for the construction of the Lekki Deep Sea Port project in the city of Lekki, in Kwara State, with the participation of the World Bank and other international financial bodies.
The project is the first project that the government of Niger has committed to complete through international investments after the country’s 2012 presidential election. It was supposed to have been completed in four years, but was delayed, resulting in a 1.6 billion-naira ($125 million) budget shortfall.
The project includes the construction of four deep-water seaports in Kwara State, with a total capacity of 8 million gross tons a year, two deep-water bulk carriers, a deep-water container terminal, a deep-water jetty, a deep-water pier, and an offshore oil terminal.
The Lekki project was one of the three major infrastructure projects that President Buhari signed in April 2014, as part of his first state visit to China, and was followed by similar agreements in other countries.
According to the agreement, the construction of the four deep-water seaports and the development of the Port of Lekki and the Port of Benin, which are in the Niger Delta region, are to be completed by the year 2020.
“I have instructed the president to ensure the timely completion of all project elements and to continue the support of the international community to facilitate the timely completion of the project, which is vital to Nigeria’s economic growth and development,” Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said in the letter from his office to the World Bank President, Patrick M
