Minister commends NPA, seeks connection of Lekki port to rail

The minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Sambo, has commended the management of the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) over the support provided to Lekki Port in meeting the project timelines.

Sambo, while speaking during his first official visit to the Lekki Deep Seaport, expressed delight at the pace and quality of work at the port site.

Recall that the Lekki Deep Seaport places Nigeria on the global list of nations with deep seaports and positions the country to maximise the comparative advantages that its maritime endowments and littoral assets confer.

The seaport also has super Post-Panamax state-of-the-art Ship to Shore (STS) Cranes; 10 Rubber Tyred Gantries (RTGs) and the delivery of the second batch shipment critical to the commencement of operations comprising of two STS Cranes with 115 packages of accessories and five RTGs with 270 packages of accessories.

However, ahead of the deep seaport completion and commencement of operations before the end of the year 2022, the minister tasked the Nigerian Railway Corporation, NPA and Lekki Port to take urgent steps towards ensuring the Deep Seaport is linked by rail.

In his remarks, the managing director, NPA, Mohammed Bello-Koko, said the seaport is close to becoming operational.

He said, “the very fact the letter of intent between Lekki Deep Seaport and its financial partners was signed in April 2019 and by 2022 we are close to operationalization; this project symbolises the possibilities that tenacity of purpose can actualise.”

He added that NPA remains unwavering in providing every support and facilitation necessary to ensure that the timelines for take-off are met.

The Managing Director Lekki Deep Seaport, Du Ruogang, while making a presentation to the minister and his entourage disclosed that the construction works for phase 1 is nearing completion and is currently at about 96 per cent completion.

“The Lekki Port team, together with the Lekki Freeport Terminal (LFT), is working hard to ensure that construction is completed in September 2022 and thereafter port operations will start before the end of this year 2022.”

Highlighting the game-changing features, Ruogang stated further, “the port upon completion will have three container berths, three liquid berths and a storage yard with over 15,000 ground slots terminal designed to support a throughput of 2.7 million TEUs annually, a Dry Bulk Terminal with available quay length of about 300m amongst other distinctive attributes.”