Promoters of Lekki Deep Seaport, Lekki Port LFTZ Enterprise Limited, have said that the $800m rail connection is an integral part of port operations.
The Chief Operating Officer of Lekki Port LFTZ Enterprise, Laurence Smith, in a chat with The PUNCH in Lagos, said that the rail connection would ensure easier and more effective evacuation of cargoes from the port.
He disclosed that the firm was developing plans to fund the $800m rail connection from the seaport to the rail line.
Smith said 30 per cent of cargoes are evacuated in Europe by rail while 70 per cent are evacuated in North America.
According to him, evacuating cargoes through rail is cheaper and reduces congestion on the road.
“It is cheaper because you can get 100 containers onto a railway system as opposed to one truck carrying a maximum of two 20-foot equivalent units out of the port. So, we are really championing that but we have to look at the mechanisms of funding the rail. The rail itself is quite expensive. So, we need to understand how those mechanisms will work,” he explained.
He also said that the first phase of the truck park would be ready by the end of the first quarter of 2023.
The Deputy Chief Operating Officer of Lekki Port LFTZ Enterprise, Mr Daniel Odibe, said the management of Lekki Port has obtained Federal Government’s approval for the railway from the port to the proposed eastern coastal rail line through Ijebu-Ode.
SOURCE: PUNCH
