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The Lagos State government has initiated plans to demolish part of popular beach resort – Landmark Beach and other leisure and hospitality places around the axis, to pave way for a planned 700-kilometer (435-mile) coastal highway designed to link the former capital city to Calabar, a port city near the border with Cameroon.
The sections marked for demolition within the Landmark Beach Resort include Beach Resort, Kids and Bay Arena, Members Area, and Lagos Beach Club.
In a letter issued on March 19, 2024, and addressed to Landmark Group, the state government stated the sections of the company billed for demolition.
Other businesses and properties that might be affected include Truth Night Club, ATV, Basketball Court, Beach Resort, Mini Golf Court, Island Breeze and Laquatic Water Park.
The letter read in part, “Following the publications of Friday 15th and Saturday 16th March, 2024, in the two national newspapers, The Nation and The PUNCH respectively, for the construction of 103km stretch of the 700km Lagos-Calabar coastal highway by the Federal Ministry of Works, in collaboration with Lagos State Government, I am to inform you that your property falls within the Right of Way Alignment of the project by 50 meters.
“Consequently, the affected portion shall be removed in overriding public interest, to pave way for the road construction project from seven (7) days of serving this notice.
Real Estate Developer and owner of Landmark Beach Resort, Paul Onwuanibe, though said the high project is a welcome development to connect different regions of the country but feared it came at a steep cost for tourism in Lagos and posed a threat to foreign direct investment into the country if Landmark Beach is eventually torn down.
In an interview with CNN, Onwuanibe said he obtained the Landmark Beach Resort land in 2007 before the plans for the coastal highway were drawn up, and felt a mix of emotions after receiving the demolition order, which also urged him to file compensation claims.
“People who bring in money to make cities like this effective will be very concerned. It will pose a huge threat to inward investment into the state and, most importantly, pose a threat to people who are already in the state trying to do things,” Onwuanibe told CNN.
He went further to state his company has spent between $80 and $90 million developing this ecosystem and one-third of that was spent on the beach.
![The Google Earth image shows the green line that indicates the original path of the proposed Lagos-Calabar highway, while the yellow line shows the proposed path affecting the Landmark Group businesses. [Landmark]](https://i0.wp.com/blackboxnigeria.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IMG_4886.jpeg?resize=300%2C150)
Onwuanibe said foreign and local investors in Landmark Group were now threatening to pull out if the beach resort, which includes a mini golf course, a beach soccer field as well as a volleyball and basketball court, is removed.
“Without the beach, the entire ecosystem is at risk and is severely damaged,” he said, adding: “I have had widespread panic calls from my international and local investors as well as local debt providers threatening to pull the plug as they think this is material to our survival as a business.”
Onwuanibe pleaded with the government in another correspondence obtained by BlackBox Nigeria, to consider using the original plan which gives 1.5km diversion from the aforementioned properties in the interest of varying investment and job losses that might be encountered if it proceeds with the current plan.
