Lekki Deep Seaport to attract $360bn to Nigeria’s GDP in 45 years — Amaechi
…Project will relieve Apapa, Tin-can ports — Stakeholders
The Lekki Deep Seaport has been projected to attract $360billion into Nigeria Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the Minister of transportation has said.
The Minister, Rotimi Amaechi made this revelation known yesterday after inspecting the ongoing work at the project site in Lagos.
Stakeholders in the industry said that the project, when completed, would relief the Apapa and Tin-can ports, making the area free of gridlock.
The Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) had a 45-year concession of the deep seaport awarded to Lekki Port LFTZ Enterprise Limited (LPLEL) on a build, own, operate and transfer (BOOT) basis.
The company is required to develop, finance, build, operate, and at the end of the concession term, transfer the port to the NPA, under the agreement.
Though the port is a privately-funded project and its investors would recoup their money before handing over the seaport to the federal government, the minister said the Lekki deep seaport would commence commercial activities in September this year.
“The project will contribute about $360billion over the years. It sounds much, but we actually need more of that money to accomplish what we want to achieve,” Amaechi said.
“But obviously, taxes will be collected here and even them (contractors) will pay taxes. I am not sure there was any taxes mentioned in the agreement, but I doubt there is any tax exemption.
“So, we will collect taxes here. The confidence in giving them the project is because of the taxes that we will collect here which will help us in the construction of other projects.”
Speaking on the need to expand the seaport, Amaechi said the port was not spacious enough to deal with expected rise in economic activities in the future.
“It also depends on how much the economy will grow before then. The growth of the economy will put pressure on the expansion,” he said.
“The argument we had in cabinet is that the need for a deep seaport at Lekki was as a result of the fact that the demand for port activities in the country has exceeded the supply of Tincan and Apapa around Lagos.
“This is the first seaport in Nigeria. What we had all these while are river ports. Tincan is a river port; Apapa is a river port and Port Harcourt too.
“Right here, you have 16.5m draft which is good for the country, but the country needs more than just one of this port because of the increase in commercial activities in the future.
“We need just more than Lagos Deep Seaport and for me, before I leave office, I will emphasise on the construction of the Bonny Deep Seaport.”
The transportation minister also expressed his wish to connect the Lekki Deep Seaport to a rail line.
He, however, said paucity of funds remained a challenge.
Amaechi added that the project, when completed, would create more economic activities and jobs for youths.
While speaking with NewsDirect, the Former Director-General, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, (LCCI) and Chief Executive Officer, the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), Dr. Muda Yusuf said it would relieve Apapa and Tin-can ports’ gridlock.
According to him, “It will increase maritime activities generally. The port is going to serve the country, because the calculation is that it is going to relief Apapa and Tin can, and because it is a deep sea port bigger vessels will be able to pass there, which will be more economical, bring more savings and if there are better savings, cost will reduce and the economy generally will benefit.
While explaining the significance of the port, he said, “What happened with our ports now is not so deep. Sometimes when we have big vessels, they stay on the high sea, and smaller vessels will have to go there to start transshipping to the shore. if we have a deep sea port that will not happen,” he said.
He added that, “It has a lot of advantage for maritime and import in the country, it makes the maritime activities much more effective, more cheaper and contributed to the growth of the economy.
“It should actually be the maritime hub for the west African sun region, countries like Mail, Niger, they should be moving their products through us what we call transit cargo. And a lot of activities in maritime, you have the shipping agent, clearing agent, terminal operators.
“There are many activities around maritime that are creating jobs or value and by the time you put it all together, they can really be much If you have the right environment for them to operate, and if you don’t they are physical policies that will be disturbing trades.
“It should, in a way depend again on how we are to deal with all the associated facilities. If there are proper facilities in terms of road and pipelines to move especially the refined petrol products. Generally, it is easier to move these products through pipelines. They are technologies that can also be used to transfer refined petrol products from the refineries to depot and people can be lifting it from the depot.
“So all of those things will have to be put on the table, of course it will relieve Apapa significantly,” he concluded.
