Lekki Port: China Harbour Engineering Company Infuses $221m Into Project
…As Project Provides Employment for 1, 126 Locals
By DAPO OLAWUNI
With equity infusion of $221m by China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) in its capacity as an investor, the company is now the majority shareholder in the ongoing Lekki Deepsea Port Project in Lagos, Nigeria.
The company said it is planning a total investment of $1.1 billion into the project, making her the largest shareholder with 75% interest, while the Lagos state government will have 20% and Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) with 5%.
The project has equally provided employment for 1,126 local employees at the port, accounting for 83% of the total number of people in the project. The port has the capacity to create over 160,000 jobs.
In his welcome remarks during a media visit and tour of the project site held on Wednesday, Managing Director, Lekki Port LFTZ Enterprise Limited, Mr. Du Ruogang, said the company is targeting an earlier date for commencement of operations at the port.
The project is officially expected to be completed as scheduled with a targeted commercial operations date in Q4 2022.
Ruogang said the construction of the Lekki Deep Seaport has reached almost 50% with the completion of the 1,909m long core of the main breakwater, while work on the quay wall and landside infrastructure has reached advanced stages.
He announced that the company was able to satisfy all the conditions precedent for the disbursement of the loan facility from China Development Bank.
According to him, the company has equally secured the partnership of Lekki Port Free Terminal (CMA CGM) a French company with vast experience worldwide, to run the container terminal when it is operational.
Speaking, he said “We have achieved many milestones on the project including the equity infusion of $221m by China Harbour Engineering Company in its capacity as an investor. Based on this development, China Harbour is now the majority shareholder in Lekki Port. Also, we were able to satisfy all the conditions precedent for the disbursement of the loan facility from China Development Bank”
“As at today, I am glad to inform you that the project is at almost 50 per cent completion. You will see an overview of the construction progress shortly, but I am pleased to say that the construction has been going smoothly and we are on course with our timelines and in fact we are targeting an earlier date for commencement of operations”
Mr Du. Ruogang became Managing Director of Lekki Port LFTZ Enterprise Limited in March 2020.
Speaking further on the relationship between CHEC and the host communities, he said the deep sea port have been providing basic amenities to the people in the community, such as construction of micro flush toilets, distribution of COVID-19 relief goods among others.
He said theLekki Deep Sea Port will be one of the most modern ports in West Africa, offering enormous support to the burgeoning commercial operations across Nigeria and the entire West African region.
Also speaking during the media tour of the port yesterday, Mr. Steve Heukelon, the Chief Technical Officer of the Lekki deep seaport, informed that the concession period of the port would be for a period of 45 years stating that the deep seaport will have an estimated agreegate value of $361 billion.
Heukelon added that the project will offer a multiplier of more than 230 times of it’s total cost put at $1.57bn
Giving a breakdown of the level of work done so far he said the dredging is already at 57.75%, Quay Walls already at 43.14%, the breakwaters at 63.27%, while the landslide is already at 27.83% totalling over 50% of work carried out so far at the deep seaport.
