River Niger

Our client
On December 2008, the Federal Government of Nigeria signed a 36 billion Naira project for the dredging of the Lower River Niger from Baro to Warri. The Nigerian government that was formed after the 2007 general elections adopted a seven-point agenda. The main goal of this seven-point agenda is to be one of the twenty most industrialised nations in the world by 2020. Transportation is one of the points on this agenda, and the dredging of the River Niger was specifically mentioned as one of the stepping stones towards achieving an improved multi-modal transport system for the country. The contract was awarded to Van Oord by the Federal Ministry of Transportation.

Our work
The purpose of this project is to improve the navigability of the River Niger to make it accessible for transportation of goods and materials year-round. The discharge of the river is characterised by a low-water season from November to July and a high discharge period from August to October, in which the water level in the river rises up to 10 m above the water level during the low-water season. The works are divided into 5 Lots with van Oord being awarded Lot 3 and 4. Lot 4 stretches from Jamata to Idah and Lot 4 stretches from Idah to Onitsha. The total length of Van Oord's scope was 226 km that needed to be dredged to a width of 60m, generally running along the thalweg of the river. River training works and placing navigational aids were also part of the contract. Van Oord mobilised two Cutter Suction Dredgers for this project, the Calabar River and the Eendracht. Van Oord successfully completed the capital dredging of Lot 3 and 4 in October 2010.

Our results
The dredging of the lower River Niger have made the river navigable in both the dry and the rainy seasons, thus allowing vessels to sail from the Atlantic Ocean all the way to Baro in northern Nigeria. The project will have an enormous social and economic impact on the people who live near the river. Now inaccessible harbours and villages can flourish once again by contributing to the transportation down the River Niger using modern means. This will create work and help villages and cities around the River Niger benefit from this beautiful natural resource.