The high-value sustainable industrial free zone in Lagos, LADOL, is proud to announce its readiness for the completion and integration of the $3bn Total’s Egina Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) platform immediately it arrives from South Korea early next year.
Business Hilights had last week reported authoritatively that the South Korean technology giant and shipbuilder, Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI), has kept its promise in completing the construction of the platform in September and waved goodbye to it as it set sail to Nigeria on Wednesday, October 31.
Constructed at SHI’s Geoye yard, the FPSO is to be integrated and installed by LADOL in Egina offshore field, located some 200 km off the Nigerian coast.
LADOL in a statement described the emerging development as another way of marking a major milestone in the development of Nigeria’s advanced engineering capacity and local content development.
Only recently, LADOL has been awarded the ‘Free Zone of the Year for Large Tenants’ as well as being named the premier destination for ‘Education and Training’ by the fDi Magazine.
It is also highly commended with second place in the ‘Free Zone of the Year’ award for Africa.
Recognised for the third consecutive year among more than 60 applicants, LADOL’s development is providing a blueprint for private sector led sustainable industrialisation in West Africa and beyond.
Established in 2001 from disused swampland in Lagos, LADOL has attracted over $500 million of private investment to date. The fully integrated deep offshore logistics base is the first of its kind in Nigeria and home to the largest ship yard in West Africa.
The transformative industrial infrastructure at LADOL has strengthened local supply chains and halved the costs of deep offshore petroleum operations, returning more value to the national economy.
Essential to LADOL’s blueprint for sustainable industrialisation is job creation. Approximately 2,000 jobs have been directly established at the Free Zone, with the potential to create a further 50,000 through the multiplier effect the development of the Free Zone will have on the creation of ancillary businesses.
Also breaking ground in 2018 is LADOL’s Upskilling Academy, which aims to equip more of Nigeria’s young people with the education they need to bridge the productivity and skills gaps that exist in high-growth, low-income countries like Nigeria.
fDi Magazine is a Financial Times publication that investigates all issues of concern to foreign investors expanding into new markets. fDi’s‘ Global Free Zones of the Year Awards 2017’surveys the core growth of free zones with regards to companies operating onsite and the total increase in square feet over the last 12 months.
The panel of independent judges also considers the key initiatives available within the free zones and the implementation of new facilities and services for the benefit of their tenants.
In her remarks, the chief executive of LADOL, Dr Amy Jadesimi, noted that “LADOL and its partners have been investing for over 16 years in creating sustainable infrastructure that can support large-scale industrialisation in Nigeria. The growth we’ve achieved against sometimes seemingly in surmountable odds makes receiving these prestigious awards from fDi Magazine particularly special”.
“We continue to look ahead for infrastructure development opportunities that will support the next generation of Nigerian and international companies, helping diversify the local marketplace and drive growth to 2030.”
LADOL’s next phase of development will focus on providing infrastructure for non-petroleum industries, such as agriculture, technology, finance, healthcare and education.
