Nigeria: Ambitious Eko Atlantic City recording salient milestones

Lagos - like a foetus in the womb, residents of Lagos and regular visitors to the former bar beach along Ahmadu Bello Way, Victoria Island, have continued to witness in awe, the gradual transformation of what used to be a splendor beach front to arguably, the single most ambitious and comprehensive development plan to come on stream in the West African sub-region in recent times.

Privately funded by South Energyx Nigeria Limited, the developers and city planners, a subsidiary of the Nigerian-based Chagoury Group of companies working in strategic partnership with the Lagos State government and supported by the Nigerian federal government, the Eko Atlantic City is a head-turning project in the country's former capital city.

The Eko Atlantic project is an entirely new coastal city being built to solve the chronic shortgae of real estate in the Nigerian commercial capital. The project, which is standing on a standing on a 10 million square metres of land reclaimed from the ocean is protected by an 8.5 kilometre long sea wall.

The city is designed to be self-sufficient and sustainable with its own power, clean water, advanced telecommunications, spacious roads and 110,000 trees.

Nigerians are not merely excited by the prospect of another real estate development as the country, even Lagos State in particular, has become a centre for divergent real estate development, offering all kinds of luxury apartments and office spaces. The spate of excitement is propelled by the size of the land reclamation, and the sophisticated technology being employed which is not a common sight in this part of the world.

Source: allafrica.com