BY the end of 2024, the Lagos Free Zone (LFZ) would have generated around 21% of the $3.5 billion invested in the project.
Dinesh Rathi, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Lagos Free Zone (LFZ), stated this at a press conference held at the zone in Ibeju-Lekki yesterday, emphasising that 35 percent of the project will be completed by the end of 2024.
The project’s purpose, according to Rathi, is to improve Nigeria’s position as a commercial hub and preferred industrial hub in West Africa by providing world-class infrastructure, facilities, and services.
“We understand how important the project is for the Nigerian economy and the country needs more projects to unleash its potential. With the Lekki port completion, the real benefit of what we have been building, in the next five years, will put Ibeju-Lekki as one of the communities contributing largely to the gross domestic product (GDP) of the economy,” he said.
According to him, the Lagos port-based industrial zone serves roughly 26 enterprises with infrastructure including warehouses, standard factories, police stations, truck parks, compressed natural gas, medical facilities, residential flats, and retail banks, among other things.
Rathi said that the LFZ has established a frictionless environment in which businesses can operate without hindrances, and that it has worked with other private investors to bring FDI into the country.
According to him, the initiative is a tax-free zone that would allow residents and other investors to run their enterprises without interruption.
He said significant benefits of the zone include exemption from all taxes, levies and rates and import duties applicable on raw materials imported for finished goods that are sold locally.
Rathi said work was ongoing on the road network infrastructure to increase accessibility to/from the zone, which is strategically located in proximity to major trade gateways and demand centres.
He listed multiple evacuation channels undergoing work to include expansion of the four kilometres Eleko Road from its junction to Eleko Town, dualisation of Lekki-Epe Road from Ibeju-Agbe to T-Junction and the upgrading of the 34km Epe Road to ljebu Ode Expressway.
Significant benefits of the zone, according to him, include immunity from all taxes, levies, and rates, as well as import tariffs, on raw materials imported for finished items sold locally.
Rathi noted that work on the road network infrastructure to improve access to and from the zone, which is strategically placed near key trade ports and demand centers, was still underway.
He also stated that the four-kilometer Eleko Road from its junction to Eleko Town is being expanded, as is the dualisation of the Lekki-Epe Road from Ibeju-Agbe to T-Junction and the upgrading of the 34-kilometer Epe Road to the Ljebu Ode Expressway, accorl
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