06 April 2013, Lagos – Managing Director, Lekki Port LFTZ Enterprise, Mr. Haresh Aswani, yesterday, said the Lekki port project is expected to contribute not less than N31.15 trillion ($20 billion) to the nation’s economy.
Aswani gave the assurance during the visit of Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State to the site to assess the level of work done so far.
The port, sitting on 90 hectares of land, is to become operational in third quarter of 2016, and it has Lagos State Government and Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, as shareholders in the project.
Fielding questions on the economic benefits of the port to the state and the country, Aswani said: “In addition to bridging the capacity deficit, Lekki Port will have significant positive macroeconomic impact estimated at USD 361 billion over the entire concession period.
“It is expected to contribute more than USD200 billion to the government purse, while also creating close to 163,000 new jobs in the economy.
“Furthermore, Lekki Port will spur the economic development around the Lekki sub-region and on a wider perspective, the whole of Lagos State through rapid industrialisation.”
Aswani explained that the Lekki Port, conceptualised as a multi-product industrial and logistics hub, would spread across 90 hectre of land and would be built at an estimated cost of $1.55 billion.
He further said the deep-sea port, which would be located 65 km east of Lagos Mainland would become the gateway to West African region and would be one of the most efficient and modern maritime facilities that would cater to liquid and dry bulk cargo par international standards.
*Franklin Alli & Nkiruka Nnorom, Vanguard
