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Under Construction: Eko Atlantic City – Great Wall of Lagos

Eko Atlantic is designed to provide the space and infrastructure to house 250,000 people and become the workplace for a further 150,000 in Lagos. In less than five years from now, people from all walks of life will come to Nigeria just to look at the wall of Lagos.

President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, congratulated the management of Eko Atlantic City project that will give Lagos a global recognition as a ‘noble initiative’. The President said this during a dedication ceremony to mark a milestone event of 5,000,000 Square Reclamation Ceremony and gives the project the full support of his Government.

The project drew high-level presidential praise from both the Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan and the former President of the United States of America, Bill Clinton in the presence of Governor Fashola and former Governor of Lagos State Tinubu.

Nigerian President describes the development of Eko Atlantic as an outstanding initiative. ‘This landmark event is continuing the good news narrative that Nigeria must now embrace permanently. You cannot be hearing only ugly stories. Eko Atlantic City is bringing us happiness and this happiness has come to stay.’

The project land reclamation started in February 2008 with a 7-year dredging operation planned to create 8,000 square metres of new land every day.
A year after reclamation work began the Chagoury Group, the developers and planners of Eko Atlantic, based in Lagos, Nigeria, committed at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York to protect Victoria Island from coastal erosion through the forces of the Atlantic Ocean.

Since then, the developers have built a sea revetment known as The Great Wall of Lagos that now stands at three and a half kilometres. Half the land needed to build the new city has been recovered from the ocean.

‘They have reclaimed five million square metres of land from the sea. They have built the beginnings of this amazing wall. They have kept their commitment and it will help to diversify the economy of Nigeria, to brand Lagos all over the world and to create an enormous number of opportunities. In the next five years, people will be coming from everywhere just to look at the wall.’

The Great Wall has brought back the coastline of Victoria Island to where it was a century ago before coastal erosion began to wash it away.
President Clinton said, ‘This is an ingenious engineering feat,’ and it is something there will be countless numbers of people coming to Nigeria to study. It is something Nigerians can be very proud of.’

The ceremony was hosted by Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola. He said that when all is done, a new city will emerge from what was once a devastated area as a result of nature’s onslaught. ‘He thinks that the devastation is now history and that the ultimate triumph beckons,’ he said, ‘the human spirit will prevail because of the goodwill of a few good men.’

The ceremony was attended by high-ranking Nigerian Federal and State officials as well as international developers, financial institutions and members of the diplomatic corps.

The Executive Chairman of Eko Atlantic, Mr. Ronald Chagoury, in his address, said, “Nigeria is a great nation. Building a city of this calibre can only be achieved by putting our hands together. Today we are at a turning point where the real construction of the city has started.” And he added, “Today Lagos is the economic capital of Nigeria. We pray by your blessing Mr. President, to become the economic and financial centre of Africa in the near future”.

The construction of infrastructure for Eko Atlantic, such as roads, drainage and sewage systems has also started as has foundation work for Eko Atlantic’s first commercial tower block. An international developer, Satellite Oil and Gas from Nigeria, has started to build Eko Energy Estate and numerous other projects are in the pipeline.

Upon completion, the developers and city planners of the new city will have produced 10,000,000 square metres of land, ripe for development: equivalent in size to the skyscraper district of Manhattan in New York City.

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Posted by Eko Atlantic on Thursday, October 25, 2012

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