The Minister reiterated this position at the weekend during a meeting between the Federal Ministry of Transportation, its agencies – (Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and Lekki Port LFTZ Enterprise Limited, handlers of the Deep Sea project in Lekki, Lagos State.
Amaechi expressed displeasure with the attempt to shift the completion date by Lekki Port management to the fourth quarter of 2022.
The Lekki Deep-Sea project, which was flagged off in 2018, has 1600 workers of which 300 are expatriates with the rest mostly from the host communities.
He said: “There was an agreement that by second quarter of 2022, you’ll commence commercial activities and you said, ‘yes’, in the presence of the Vice President, Yemi Osibanjo.
“So, whatever work plan you have, reverse it now and go back to the agreement,” he told the management.
On the call by the Chairman that the Lekki Port be captured under the current rail system being embarked on by the Federal Government, Amaechi said, “When we went to the seaport in the United Kingdom, there was no railway. it was just a road, so nothing that says that we must do a rail track to this place.
“Whenever there’s another government and they have money, they can proceed with that sector.”
Earlier, the Chairman, Lekki Port LFTZ Enterprise Limited, Abiodun Dabiri, briefed the minister and his entourage on the status of construction of the Port, saying the entire port construction is now at 55.48% completion.
Speaking further on the breakdown of the status of the components of the port, Dabiri disclosed that dredging and reclamation has reached 61,11%, Quay Wall 50.39%, Breakwater 67.49% while the landside infrastructure development has reached 33.70% completion.
He further disclosed that upon completion, Lekki Port would be a world-class Port operating with best-in-class equipment to ensure seamless operations and would comply with global environmental protection standards.
He added that Lekki Port would be the deepest seaport in the sub-Saharan African region and will serve as a transhipment hub for the region.
Also speaking, the Acting Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, Mohammed Bello-Koko, informed that the agency had commenced the process of acquiring all necessary marine equipment required for the smooth take-off of the project.
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