The key to understanding Lagos, Africa’s most populous city, is in the water.

And since 2008, it is to the sea that an ambitious development company has looked for an unorthodox fix to the problems that plague Lagos including joblessness and housing shortages: a brand new city, built on land clawed back from the bottom the ocean floor.

Eko Atlantic is the name of a grandiose project to create a new economic capital for Africa—notably, right next to the current economic capital for Africa. The development includes everything from sky-scrapers to luxury apartments, a new financial district, a private power-grid, and a shopping boulevard in the image of New York’s Fifth Avenue. It’s the brainchild of the Chagoury brothers, two Nigerian-born billionaires of Lebanese descent who own South Energyx Nigeria Ltd, a real estate development company created to build out Eko Atlantic.

Eko Atlantic is meant to be an antidote to Lagos’s deepest recession in 30 years. The city is meant to bring 250,000 new jobs and address a housing shortage brought on by a surging population. This, and the fact that it’s privately-funded, have lent it the support of the state and federal governments. It’s being sold to investors as “a valuable foothold in Africa” one of the world’s last emerging growth markets.

But what makes Eko Atlantic’s development especially noteworthy is its location. The planned city borders Lagos directly. Eko Atlantic was built by dredging up and filling in 9 kilometers (about 5.6 miles) worth of land. Before the project began in 2008, the peninsula was non-existent.

The result is that Eko Atlantic has the appearance of being an island created out of thin air. Satellite imagery highlights just how dramatic an effect the construction — which is far from finished — has had on Lagos’ coast.

There were no responses to requests for comment from the team behind Eko Atlantic. But for Lagos, a city composed of a series of islands, the situation Blumberg describes could be disastrous. Lagos’ surrounding areas are not only unprotected by the wall, but are lower in sea level than Eko Atlantic. It’s a combination that leaves the old city of Lagos and its hundreds of years of history startlingly vulnerable.

If the critics are correct, Eko Atlantic might provide parts of Lagos with yet another link to the sea, one rooted in potential danger and unknowable risk. To the sea parts of the city may return.

“With sea walls, you have to figure out what you’re protecting against,” Dr. Blumberg advised. In the case of Lagos and Eko Atlantic, the better question might be who gets the protection.

hahn:
INteresting
[b]
I always wondered why they didn't consider developing Lagos, like fixing the drainage system, instead of this project.

But what do I know?

LRNZH:


While I commend the Lagos State Government for having the initiative to take on massive projects like this, it was obvious to me that the Eko Atlantic project had a fatal flaw.

We in Africa are not ripe for reclaiming an ocean. Not even cities like New Orleans that are around sea level take on sea reclamation projects. The Dutch who excel at this are world master's in marine engineering.

Another venturesome thing in Lagos is the sandfilling of the Lagoon for housing projects like Orange Island, etc.
Water is being drained through these areas that we humans are now distorting without understanding the long term impact.

Lagos should have focused on completing the 4th Mainland Bridge and on how to build a new set of cities in the land areas that will be connected by the new bridge instead of trying to dominate it's waters.

Cc: Lalasticlala; Mynd44

Amberon:
When will Africans learn? The westerners didn't get to where they are today by outpacing their shadows.

Nigeria is not deficient in land. Instead of reclaiming land from the ocean why not channel that time/energy/resources into proper drainage and development of the already inhabited areas? Now look at the potential damage well meaning citizens are being predisposed to.

Well, all the best for eko Atlantic.

Ogene001:
why must people live on top of each other in a tiny land called Lagos, why cant other states be helped with the necessary federal infrastructure to decongest Lagos

LRNZH:


While I commend the Lagos State Government for having the initiative to take on massive projects like this, it was obvious to me that the Eko Atlantic project had a fatal flaw.

We in Africa are not ripe for reclaiming an ocean. Not even cities like New Orleans that are around sea level take on sea reclamation projects. The Dutch who excel at this are world masters in marine engineering.

Another venturesome thing in Lagos is the sandfilling of the Lagoon for housing projects like Orange Island, etc.
Water is being drained through these areas that we humans are now distorting without understanding the long term impact.

Lagos should have focused on completing the 4th Mainland Bridge and on how to build a new set of cities on land in areas that will be connected by the new bridge instead of trying to dominate its waters.

Cc: Lalasticlala; Mynd44

hahn:
INteresting

I always wondered why they didn't consider developing Lagos, like fixing the drainage system, instead of this project.

But what do I know?

DeKen:
I would prefer to be optimistic. I love this project and I believe it's being handled by professionals/experts.
At worst, govt (which is a stakeholder in this) would be compelled to build a wall to protect the other islands if they are threatened.

PapaBrowne:


This is an entirely private development. Run by private money, not public money. So your notion that "Lagos"should have focused elsewhere doesn't cut it as Lagos is not focused on Eko Atlantic. Chaugory & his Southern Energyxteam are the ines focused on It.

LRNZH:
[img]http://qzprod.files./2017/03/feature-image-1.png?w=320[/img]
The Ogun river flooding the banks near a livestock market in Lagos, Nigeria. (Reuters/Akintunde Akinleye)



From the sea Lagos rose, from humble port city to economic and political powerhouse and sprawling home to around 22 million. It’s the water that the city is named for—“Lagos,” from the Portuguese word for lakes. Many of the poor, who make up 70% of the city’s population, live in floating shanty slums in the city’s lagoons.

It’s also the sea that has been responsible for Lagos slowly sinking. Lagos consists of a mainland and a series of islands, which make it especially susceptible to rising sea levels. It is this proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, combined with risks from climate change, that pose the largest environmental threat to the megalopolis.

[img]http://qzprod.files./2017/03/africa-map-lagos-inset.png?w=1245[/img]
Lagos is composed of a series of islands and peninsulas.



[img]http://qzprod.files./2017/03/gif-file-labels-scale-large.gif?w=902[/img]
Satellite imagery courtesy of Digital Globe.

[img]http://qzprod.files./2017/03/view-of-land.jpg?quality=80&strip=all&w=800[/img]
Photo courtesy of Eko Atlantic

Lagos’ location leaves it deeply susceptible to rising sea levels and catastrophic storm surges. In 2012, a storm surge in the exact area of Eko Atlantic’s construction killed 16 people. In the aftermath of the tragedy (which some blamed on disturbances caused by Eko Atlantic’s building) the developers of the project highlighted the fabrication of “The Great Wall of Lagos”, a sea wall that wraps around the city and protects it from the effects of the surrounding Atlantic.

But according to some climate scientists, the same wall that will protect Eko Atlantic could worsen the situation for neighboring areas not protected by it, which includes much of Lagos. Dr. Alan Blumberg, renowned for his research and the effects of climate change on water structures, highlighted the challenges in a phone call.

“What happens when you build a wall is that the approaching storm surge will come up to the wall, and it will move to the left or right of the wall, searching for a weakness or a low spot. If there are two islands close to each other, it may go to the island next door instead.”

[img]http://qzprod.files./2017/03/constructing-wall-eko2.jpg?quality=80&strip=all&w=800[/img]
The construction of “The Great Wall of Lagos.” (Eko Atlantic)



http://qz.com/923142/two-billionaire-brothers-unorthodox-plan-to-save-one-of-africas-largest-economies-has-a-fatal-design-flaw/

Ogene001:
why must people live on top of each other in a tiny land called Lagos, why cant other states be helped with the necessary federal infrastructure to decongest Lagos

DeKen:
I would prefer to be optimistic. I love this project and I believe it's being handled by professionals/experts.
At worst, govt (which is a stakeholder in this) would be compelled to build a wall to protect the other islands if they are threatened.

davidif:


Bros, I raised this issue on nairaland back in 2017 that Lagos was sinking but I guess it was not as important as D'Banj's new record or Omotola's new movie so it didn't make the front page. Too bad.

https://www.nairaland.com/479070/lagos-sinking#6385159

LRNZH:




Lagos should have focused on completing the 4th Mainland Bridge and on how to build a new set of cities on land in areas that will be connected by the new bridge instead of trying to dominate its waters.

Cc: Lalasticlala; Mynd44

davidif:


Abeg tell them o. This is an example of 'artificial development.'

hahn:

I just feel they should concentrate on fixing what we have already though

Ogene001:
why must people live on top of each other in a tiny land called Lagos, why cant other states be helped with the necessary federal infrastructure to decongest Lagos

nijabazaar:


building a new set of city in that Jampack Mainland will result to displacing a whole lotta people....especially the super lower incomes.

Would you like a situation like that?

and even if lagos does not build this wall, it will always be susceptible to floods once the ocean temperatures surge. there's really nothing the Lagos govt can do to avoid such an impending scenerio. Its like trying to prevent Venice from flooding

Basic123:
pessimists everywhere.The same pessimists that will be trooping to dubai.

Amberon:
When will Africans learn? The westerners didn't get to where they are today by outpacing their shadows.

Nigeria is not deficient in land. Instead of reclaiming land from the ocean why not channel that time/energy/resources into proper drainage and development of the already inhabited areas? Now look at the potential damage well meaning citizens are being predisposed to.

Well, all the best for eko Atlantic.

LRNZH:

This is why Africa is still in the doldrums of underdevelopment. The project has gone far ahead already. Is it not beneficial to both the investors, the government and the people of Lagos to understand the potential impact of such "seascaping" and be prepared to tackle the flooding when the prediction happens?

Lalasticlala, you dey see these our people sef?

Earth2Metahuman:
are u yoruba?