Lagos: The 'Dubai' of Africa?

Culled from www.castlesweekly.com:

Lagos: The 'Dubai' of Africa?The Lagos State Government in conjunction with a private firm plans to build a brand new city on the Atlantic Ocean!

Lagos, the central nervous system of Nigeria in terms of business, entertainment and tourist attraction, if well repackaged and branded, can be made a haven for business and fun seekers, which can generate several billions of dollars and create tens of thousand jobs for the teeming unemployed youths of the state. To achieve this lofty but attainable gigantic dream, their must be a political willingness that will facilitate enabling environment to bring this dream into reality.

The present Governor of Lagos, His Excellency, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), has severally made it very clear in all speeches that he will ensure that Lagos will be able stand tall in the mist of world class cities such as London, New York City, Madrid, and so on. Victoria Island, the main commercial and business district of Lagos State obviously does not fit this mould.

The infrastructure is decrepit, traffic situation horrendous and the lack of regard for planning laws has resulted in what should have been a well planned residential district into a nightmarish commercial cum residential mess. So what should the learned Governor do? Build a brand new Victoria Island by sandfilling the Atlantic Ocean. What should you call this brand new city? EKO ATLANTIC CITY of course!

The proposed Eko Atlantic City (see layout on page 16) when completed will combine residential, commercial, financial and touristic accommodation in a location serviced by a state of-the-art high tech infrastructure. Once completed, Eko Atlantic shall be as big as Lagos' current prime business district, Victoria Island. The city is targeting 250,000 residents and 200,000 commuters flowing daily to the island to work.

The project reminds one of the gigantic city building projects of Dubai which has totally reinvented itself in the last 15 years, building brand new cities in the desert and on the seas surround it. Can the Government pull it off?

Well it is interesting to note that the Lagos state Government is not putting one kobo into the project! Eko Atlantic City is promoted and sponsored by the Chagoury Group, West Africa's leading construction and property development group.

The group is also involved in infrastructures development, dredging and land reclamation and owns Lagos' largest hotel (Eko Hotel). Currently the group is developing two major projects: Banana Island in Ikoyi, a residential complex on reclaimed land of approximately 1.8million square metres and Eko Akete, an infrastructural development of approximately 400 hectares, 30 km from Victoria Island, and situated on the Atlantic Ocean with an estimated 4 million square metres of land that will be available for sale for both residential and commercial purpose.

If there is any group that can pull off this amazing project in Lagos, because of its expertise and experience, there is no doubt the Chagoury Group is the best partner for the Lagos State Government.

How will the project be structured? Eko Atlantic Development, the special purpose vehicle put up by the Chagoury group for the development has been given a certificate of Occupancy for the reclaimed land according to an agreement signed between it and the LASG.

Eko Atlantic Development is also responsible for setting guidelines for future construction. As concession holder and primary developer, Eko Atlantic Development will be entitled to grant leasehold to any buyer of any plot of land and will also be responsible for infrastructure development. Investors can then construct properties of their choice but according to previously established guidelines.

Although it all sounds very good on paper, questions will still have to be asked. How environmentally friendly would the process of creating the new city be? With the rampant waves of the Atlantic Ocean, how safe will the new city be from flooding and ocean overflowing its banks?

Taming the Atlantic ocean ... (culled from castlesweekly.com)

Culled this article from www.castlesweekly.com:

CASTLES, your weekly consumer magazine and the reference point for issues relating to property and real estate, spoke to the Honourable Commissioner for Lagos State Water Front Infrastructure Development, Prince Adesgun Oniru. Giving a brief history of the Ministry, Prince Oniru said it was established to create a world class water front infrastructure development for Lagos, to create an environment where people of all works of life can take Lagos as their holiday destination and to also create an enabling environment for both foreign and domestic investors along the Lagos water front.

Commenting further, Prince Oniru clarified that the project is long-termed and futuristic in nature, and that the first thing the Ministry has done is to protect Victoria Island from the ocean surge and erosion problem permanently. The phase two that the Ministry is about to embark on is solely been financed by a private developer at no cost to the State or the Federal government. This second phase as explained by Prince Oniru, is a new city in the ocean to be called EKO ATLANTIC CITY.

On how this city is going to be created, the Honourable commissioner said the sand will be taken back to where it was formerly in the late 50's and early 60's, about 5km back into the ocean up to the mole that can be seen at the bar beach and the one at Takwa Bay, and the middle one that has collapsed, which the Nigerian Ports Authority is about to replace. According the Prince Oniru, once this city is created just like any other land available, both foreign and domestic investors will be invited for allocation and he emphasized that the land allocated will have a definite duration to be developed by the investors and failure to do so will lead to forfeiture.
The commissioner also hinted that there is going to be a properly planned layout of structures that is already in place, approved by the State to curb alterations by investors and developers. CASTLES asked the commissioner on what the environmental effect of this project will be especially the taming of the bar beach, he took us back to the genesis of the ocean surge. He explained that the ocean surge was caused by the three moles (rocks put in place between 1908 and 1912) put in place by NPA, to create a path of still and calm water for big ocean liners going to dock at Apapa and Tin Can Island.

In essence, the bar beach overflowing its bank was caused by this action of NPA, which involves a lot of dredging to create a deep water for easy passage for vessels and the sands from Benin Republic that comes eastward was blocked and if you go to the other side of Takwa Bay called Lighthouse, an island has been created there because the sand can no longer go further. When these moles were constructed, the construction company created an artificial sand pumping machine for the sand to be pumped to the other side and when the machine broke down, it was not repaired and that is the reason why the ocean surge forward.

Prince Oniru gave kudos to the administration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the proactive measures he took to contain the surge. On what the Ministry is doing now, there won't be any negative environmental effect. Prince Oniru equated the EKO Atlantic City to dropping a pin in an ocean, which will have no effect. He tied this to the fact that all the scientific calculations has been done, all investigations done and an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is being carried now because of the magnitude of the projects. Prince Oniru concluded by saying that His Excellency, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) is to passionate about this project and Lagos is taken a new face.

The Chagoury Group in a promotional brochure on the project also explains that the design of the Eko Atlantic City includes protective breakwaters on its outer perimeter to provide shelter from the ocean waves. The breakwater will be designed as a submerged and immerged wall utilising advanced 'x-blocs'. 'x-blocs' are enormous X shaped concrete blocks designed to dissipate energy of the waves. The land itself will be reclaimed through a mixture of sandfilling, rocks and concrete.