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Lekki Port to lift Nigeria’s seaborne trade as Govt fixes roads for easy evacuation

By Sulaimon Salau
05 February 2023   |   3:16 am
There is optimism that the newly constructed Lekki Deep Sea Port will emerge as a game changer for Nigeria’s seaborne trade, as it parades modern facilities amid an improved road network for easy evacuation.

Lekki Deep Seaport

There is optimism that the newly constructed Lekki Deep Sea Port will emerge as a game changer for Nigeria’s seaborne trade, as it parades modern facilities amid an improved road network for easy evacuation.
 

 
The port, Nigeria’s first deep sea port, is equipped with 13 quay cranes for a capacity of 2.5 million Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) on a 1.2-kilometre quay with a depth of 16 metres.
   
The Chief Executive Officer of Lekki Freeport Terminal, Mr. Denrick Moos noted that Lekki Port remains a game-changer that would redefine maritime activities in Nigeria and the entire West African sub-region when it commences operations by the end of Q1 2023.
   
He stated that in addition to its state-of-the-art infrastructure, Lekki Port would become a new generation container terminal, and a game-changing infrastructure in Nigeria and West Africa.
   
The port is equipped with tugboats that will assist in moving various vessels. “Equipped with the latest super-post panamax, ship-to-shore cranes, and rubber-tired-gantry cranes, the layout will ensure that the port will be a modern, and efficient facility.”
  
With the quantum of cargoes expected at the port, there were concerns about the evacuation of cargoes, if access roads are bad and no railway linkage.
    
However, the Lagos State government has pledged to provide a conducive environment for the port to continually thrive. It was therefore not surprising that the state government during the week commissioned the first phase of the reconstruction and upgrading of the Eti Osa-Lekki-Epe Expressway, formally opening it to vehicular traffic.
  
Speaking on the road, Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu said that the 18.75-kilometre-long stretch from Eleko to Epe T-Junction, was reconstructed from a two-lane rural roadway into a six-lane rigid concrete carriageway. 
 
The road, upgraded to six lanes, with streetlights installation and a dedicated track for trailers, no doubt would change the narrative and bring a huge relief to motorists plying the route.
 
 
After inaugurating the completed first phase of the road, Sanwo-Olu immediately flagged off the second phase of the project, from the Eleko axis to Abraham Adesanya Roundabout.

The governor, however, said the project’s second phase would be done in two segments for ease of funding and to reduce the traffic impact of the construction work on commuters.
   
The 18.6km first segment, Sanwo-Olu said, would take off from Eleko to Awoyaya and to critical sections around Majek and Ogidan. The second segment, which is 11km, will kick off at Ogidan to Abraham Adesanya Roundabout.
 
He said: “Inauguration of this road is coming after 40 years the infrastructure was originally constructed as a rural cross-section without drain. Our administration flagged off the reconstruction and upgrading of the Eti-Osa-Lekki-Epe Expressway from the existing two-lane to a three-lane dual carriageway with a reinforced concrete pavement and with a lane in each direction dedicated to trucks to accommodate the envisaged axle loads”
   
“The entire project will set the Lekki-Epe corridor on the path of socio-economic prosperity and progress. This corridor is fast emerging as an urban economic hub. The growth must come with infrastructure investment that will support the development. The infrastructure will not only bring relief to residents plying the road, but it will also ease the transportation of goods while encouraging industrial development in the Lekki Free Zone.”

 

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