Nigeria’s government on Wednesday approved the first ever deep sea port in the West African country at the cost of $1.4 billion, globalpost quoted a Xinhua report.

The Lekki Deep Sea port, which received anticipatory approval about 10 years ago, is expected to be completed in four years, Minister of Information Labaran Maku said in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.

Nigeria’s close neighbor, Ghana, has also requested for bids from 18 international companies for a $2.5 billion ports upgrade as it seeks to set its self up as the regions transport hub after a spate of hijacking in the Gulf of Guinea hurt business at the Nigerian port.

But for Nigeria the completion of the deep sea port will end the present congestion at various ports in the country, including the Lagos Apapa port, Maku told reporters.

The government had taken over the project under a public- private partnership arrangement, while the federal government also renegotiated the concessionary period in favor of Nigeria from 50 years down to 45 years, he added.

The Nigerian government is expected to have 20 percent equity on the port designed to handle the largest vessels in the world, in which Lagos State Government to have 18.15 percent, while the private investors will have 61.85 percent.

Designed to handle 4 million tonnes of cargo, Xinhua quoted the minister saying, the port is expected to be the deepest in West Africa and cover an area of 90 hectares with provision for expansion.

He said the Nigerian Ports Authority, over the 45 years, is expected to reap more than 9.3 billion dollars made up of 2.6 billion dollars from marine services and royalty and 6.7 billion dollars from share of profits from the investments.

Minister of Transport Idris Umar said the port will create over 162,000 jobs and help to facilitate the de-congestion at the various ports built initially to handle 60,000 tonnes but which are now handling over 100,000 tonnes.