Nigeria: Lekki Port LFTZ Enterprise (LPLE) and International Container Terminal Services (ICTSI) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the operation of the container terminal of Tolaram Port@Lekki.
ICTSI has been selected as the preferred operator for a sub-concession to equip and operate the container terminal on an exclusive basis for a 20-year period, following a Request for Proposal process. The MoU will serve as a framework for a definitive and formal sub-concession agreement.
Slated for completion by 2016, the project – the largest of its kind in Sub-Saharan Africa – is promoted by the Tolaram Group in partnership with the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the Lagos State Government (LASG).
Tolaram Port@Lekki, set within the Lagos Free Trade Zone, is strategically located 65 kilometres east of Lagos and will comprise a container terminal, a dry bulk terminal and a liquid bulk terminal with a total quay length of 1,500 metres. Given its proximity to Lagos, the facility is well connected to industrial and consumption centres of Nigeria.
The container terminal will have a handling capacity of 2.5 million TEUs with a quay length of 1,200 metres and an initial draught of 14 metres, with the potential for further dredging to 16.5 metres, upon completion. These features enable the facility to allow shipping lines to call with larger vessels, to make the port into the preferred destination for the West African region.
It is envisaged that LPLE shall be responsible for design and civil works with a projected investment of more than US$1 billion. ICTSI shall, subject to execution of a definite sub-concession agreement, provide state-of-the-art equipment and IT infrastructure, and be exclusively responsible for container operation during the term of the sub-concession in line with global standards.
