FG gives 2022 deadline for completion of N6 billon Lekki port
By Fredrick Wright
The Federal Government has given the promoters of the N6 billion Lekki deep seaport a 2022 deadline for commencement of cargo operations at the port.
The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi who disclosed this during the facility tour of the project yesterday said: “t was in March 2018 that the contract talks for this facility were launched. Yes, they have had glitches, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and a lockdown, but it is important that this project becomes operational by 2022.
“Am I impressed by the pace of work? As a layman, my views might not matter, however, we must tie them to a written agreement that it must be commissioned by Mr President in 2022.
“There are so many things tied to a port construction. As a layman, I might not be able to say categorically that by 2022, Lekki seaport will be operational. There are so many factors that could work against that date like force majeure issues or if anything goes wrong with the contractor. That is why we need to tie them to a verbal and written agreement that by 2022, Lekki seaport must become operational.
Meanwhile, Amaechi said with Lekki, Bonny and Ibom deep seaport all expected to come upstream very soon, the issue of too many river ports with the shallow draft will become a thing of the past in Nigeria’s maritime sector.
However, the minister is not sure if the project would be connected to rail by 2022.
He said: “I am not the Minister of Works, neither am I the Lagos State Government, so whether there will be rail connection to Lekki port by 2022 is not what I can talk on.”
Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) said the project when completed, would take a lot of pressure off Apapa and Tin Can Island ports.
Upon completion, LekkiPort would become the first deep seaport in Nigeria. It would have two container berths of 680 meter long & 16.5 meter water depth, and will also have the capacity to be berthed by fifth-generation container ships with a capacity of 18,000 TEU ship.
Earlier the minister had visited the burnt building of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and expressed shock at the level of destruction carried out on the agency’s headquarters by unknown persons.
“I have made decisions that with the level of damage done here, NPA should be able to come forward to the cabinet to ask for the reconstruction depending on integrity. The damage is disastrous. No matter how you want to vent your anger over police brutality, you don’t need to destroy people’s properties.
Hoodlums who purportedly hijacked the #EndSARS protests, on Wednesday, October 21, 2020, set ablaze the headquarters of the NPA at Marina, Lagos, and vandalised different offices located within the six-storey building, carting away laptops, photocopying machines and water dispensers.
