For the past four years, an ocean front wonder in marine engineering and city building has been emerging on land reclaimed from the Atlantic Ocean off Victoria Island in Lagos. This so-called future city, called EKO ATLANTIC is being created in the financial hub of Africa’s fastest growing nation, offering investors one of the world’s most exciting opportunities to harvest the potential of Africa from Lagos which itself is poised to become a mega city.
In February 2008, EKO ATLANTIC launched a massive and continuous 7-year dredging operation to create a foundation for the new city by restoring the coastline. Over three million square metres of land has already been recovered. At project’s end, EKO ATLANTIC will have produced nine million square metres of land ripe for development: equivalent in size to the skyscraper district of Manhattan in New York City.
To protect the newly reclaimed land from powerful ocean waves, an immense 8km rock structure known as the Great Wall of Lagos is being built a mile and a half offshore. Tested by the world-renowned Danish Hydraulic Research Centre the design proved that the wall can withstand the most severe tidal surges forecast over centuries. Extensive public road transport facilities are further enhanced by an intra-island waterway that extends from east to west, linking three marinas and all six districts of EKO ATLANTIC.
More than a city for 250,000 residents and 150,000 commuters it is a vital new gateway to the continent and a key driver in the urbanization of Africa. EKO ATLANTIC is complete with its own independently run power generation, water supply and sewage distribution system providing a prestigious address for businesses and residents alike. EKO ATLANTIC is the result of a strategic partnership between wholly private investment and the State of Lagos. It also receives strong support from the Nigerian Federal government. In 2009, the Clinton Global Initiative recognized the new city as one of the most inspired and ambitious civil engineering projects in Africa.
