Ruairi Moriarty

It is four weeks since my last visit to Lagos and I have arrived during a break in the rainy season. The interlude is known as the 'mango rains', which is a benign 10 days or so break before the rains recommence and finally end towards the beginning of October. There has been severe flooding in parts of Lagos' central business district of Victoria Island (VI), particularly around Engineering Close and which also has created problems in accessing Banana Island. Work continues on the Eko Atlanticproject which is rumoured as the largest metropolitan reclamation scheme currentlyongoing in the world (see photo of works below). Dredgers are creating over nine square kilometers of new land off of Bar Beach which runs the length of the southern end of VI. The scheme is being developed by the Chaghouri family on a private equity basis, where they have been granted the concession to sell the reclaimed land, in return for having created a protective sea wall running the length of Bar Beach. The already created sea wall has proven effective in preventing the previously serious erosion and flooding of the critical route of Ahmadu Bello Way, a major link between VI and Lagos Island. I understand that the first land sales have taken place to developers in the order of $1,500-2,000 /sq m, with some interest being shown from Middle Eastern concerns.