Financing Secured for Lekki Deepwater Port

A consortium of six banks have agreed the terms of loans with a Singaporean firm, Tolaram Group, aimed at financing the development of the Nigeria’s $1.5 billion Lekki port.

The consortium is comprised of the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Finance Corporation (AFC), European Investment Bank (EIB), Standard Chartered Bank, Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) and Standard Bank, Port Finance international writes citing managing director of the port, Haresh Aswani.

The construction of the port is scheduled to start in April and the first phase of the project should be completed by 2018.

The deepwater port will be a public private partnership project between the Federal Government, represented by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), which has already assigned USD 118 million for the project, the Lagos State Government and Tolaram Group.

The construction works will be carried out by China Harbour Engineering Company.

Port Lekki will have a 200m long quay and a container yard containing 13,700 grounds slots that will be further expanded to 15,000 ground slots.

Once complete the terminal will feature a container terminal with annual capacity of up to 2.5 million TEUs as well as a liquid bulk terminal of capacity 16.7 million tonnes, and a dry bulk terminal capable of accommodating Panamax vessels.