Technology is changing the way humans live and interact with things around them. However, cities have also adopted technology in the provision of infrastructure making them smart.
A smart city is an urban area that uses different types of electronic methods and sensors to collect data. Insights gained from that data are used to manage assets, resources and services efficiently; in return, that data is used to improve the operations across the city.
This represents what Eko Atlantic city stands for compared to other emerging cities in Nigeria. Eko Atlantic is located in Victoria Island at the side of reclaimed land of Atlantic Ocean.
David Frame, managing director, Eko Atlantic recently gave insight on the infrastructure provided at the city that makes is different from other cities in the country and compared to cities alike in Dubia and United States.
Reacting to issues around its status as wholly smart city, Frame said: “What we have installed on all the walk ways on either sides of the road is a network of ducts where we are installing fiber optic cable. What has been happening in the last five years in Lagos is where people are digging trenches and putting cables. We have fore seen that need and from the beginning when we were developing this infrastructure we were installing those ducts.
“On the main roads we have ducts of nine pipes 10cm down pipes you can put all telecommunications fibre optic cables within those ducts to connect every building to the network.
“That provides many opportunities to develop smart engineering especially for security. We have been in discussion with two major international companies that provide these kinds of facilities to their clients and these people have designed. For example, the smart network in Dubia, Singapore, various governments in Europe and United States. These are the calibre of people we are talking to.
“Once you have these fibre optic cables in place, there are mirage of opportunities to utilize those cables to create smart city concept. The more you talk to people the more magnetic concept they can come forward with, for the fact that we already have those cables in place what I called the infrastructure for the smart city concept there is no limit to what they can do.
All those cables are installed below ground, they are not above ground where they could be affected by storms, vandalism you name it. They are secured and fibre optic cables have a huge capacity for transmitting data, this is full proof system for development of smart city concept for many decades to come. David spoke further on some areas of concern to prospective investors in Eko Atlantic city:
The Possibility of Earthquake Occurring
We engaged with international consultants and there is one thing in particular that will never occur in West Africa and that is tsunami. If you study the concept of Tsunami you will be told about Pacific Rim.
Tsunami occurs in the pacific, 98 per cent of tsunami is generated in that region; you do not have tsunami at the Atlantic Ocean. And that is what we have out there and there has never been Tsunami in West Africa to eliminate any thought you may have on Tsunami.
In a similar way, earthquakes occur where you have what they called unstable taconic place which in turns generate Tsunami waves. There is no record of earthquakes occurring in West Africa and it is not likely to happen.
Deployment of Infrastructure at Eko Atlantic
The bulk of the work is done in installation of the facility in the first place; maintenance is a minor issue, once you have put in place a well -built system. From maintenance point of view, we have no issues. We have developed up to 50 per cent of the infrastructure for the entire city. We have completed roads or walk- ways, all those utility services are in-place already even now that development of the place is coming up.
Since the beginning of this year we have been witnessing increased interest from developers to physically come in to develop their lands. That is very encouraging. To develop a city of this nature takes a long time. Eko Atlantic is not a sprint; it is a marathon.
To develop a city of this size of 10 square kilometer of land which is 1 ½ times the size of Victoria Island is not easy. You don’t develop something of the nature in few minutes. We are still working through because we have a good financial model and have that commitment to finish this project.
A lot of the buildings under construction will be coming on stream by the end of this year. The Azuri project towers will be finished by the end of this year. We have couple of towers that are together; two of the towers have been completed and occupied. We have office towers the first building to be finished in Eko Atlantic, which is coming up to six years since completed. Things are happening in the City.
Distortions in the Master plan
We don’t permit any kind of distortion of the Master plan. We have developed planning regulations which are in-line with international standards. We looked at planning regulations from New York, Los Angeles, Sydney in Australia, UK and Singapore. And we put those ideas together and designed a well standard planning regulation, we then discussed it with ministry of Physical planning in Lagos state, and they have accepted the standard that we are imposing in the regulations which is even more conservative than their own.
They are happy with those regulations that we imposed. When those regulations are applied strictly, every development is built to international standard as well as designed to international standard, which is how we control the development.
We have business district known as Eko Bully bared which is the main street of the financial business district, it is equivalent of 5th Avenue in New York, it has five wider walk-ways than we have in 5th Avenue, on the other side, we are expecting structures of 30-35 storey buildings.
Eko Atlantic is designed to accommodate 300,000 permanent residents and 250,000 visitors. We have largest shopping hall project in sub-Saharan Africa. We have tree nursing in Lekki that can accommodate 250,000 trees; we grow them till they are 3 to 4 years old when we bring them and plant at the City. All the trees you see here were planted four years ago.
We have canal channelled into the city which made it possible for water transport system in the city. There are more than 100,000 people using Lagos state water taxi scheme and it is expanding.
One thing about this location which is unique is that there is no landmass between Eko Atlantic city and Argentina which means there is no human living there, there is no pollution. This is clean fresh ozone reach air coming out from the sea. You can feel that breeze 24/7, 365 days a year. Any pollution in the air is blow away.
People who are living in the city of Eko Atlantic today who regularly walk around will tell you after a number of months sleeping here that they appreciate the clean fresh air.
Building in Eko Atlantic Compared to Banana Island
Development of residential towers in Banana Island for instance, a 12 storey building requires piling down to 58 meters, this is because Victoria Island and Ikoyi are reclaimed lands on swamp, and swampy material is the worst material for foundation.
In Eko Atlantic a 32 storey building requires 34 meters of pile; the saving in the pilling alone in Eko Atlantic is enough to compensate the difference in the cost of the land. We need to take those things into consideration.
The other thing is developing in Ikoyi and Victoria Island, you need standby generator, Bore hole, water treatment plant, septic tank all those cost don’t apply at Eko Atlantic.
We have what we call connect and play as we have a chamber where you can connect your cable, we have a chamber where you can connect for your water supply, we have another chamber where you can connect your swage another one for the storm drainage among others.
Your Fibre optic cable is all there at the edge of your block. You need to look at the big picture. The difference in the cost of acquiring land is only part of the equation you have to look at the other factors involved. When you factor all these add-on cost you have to pay in Victoria Island and Ikoyi, you actually find that cost of development in Eko Atlantic is actually cheap.
All the utilities you have to provide are already here, apart from the fact that your planning cost alone is considerable savings. 58 meters with 12 story building and 34 meters for 32 story building.
Electricity
At the moment we are working on a scheme that we are bringing power in through a power station at Lekki. More so, we have a license from Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to generate power and a license to distribute power within the city, so we are working on that also.
At the moment we are working on small generators when SAT comes into place we will have access to 75MW of electricity. The eventual plan is that at the end of the project in phase six we will have our own generating plant that is going to generate 750 mega watts or more that’s when the city is substantially developed.
