The companies include Power Oil that is into the production and packaging of vegetable oil; kellogs Cereal Packaging Plants; TG Arla, manufacturers of Dano Milk and Insignia Technology Print.
Haresh Aswani, Group managing director of Tolaram Group said this on Tuesday when Koh Poh Koon, Singapore Minister of State for Trade and Industry visited the expensive Free Trade Zone in Lagos.
“We have multiple projects going on here. First is the building of the port, which is approximately $1.2 billion project in the first phase and about 800 hectares for Lagos Free Zone. We do not know the number yet in terms of the value of the Free Trade Zone project because it’s an ongoing project. As we have more new industries coming in that is where the value would come in,” he said.
According to him, Tolaram as a group has invested close to $150 million so far in the development of the four factories, which include the oil refinery, packaging of milk, printing company and Cereals Production Company.
Aswani also said that the Group is perfecting plans to improve its export capacity as the company hopes to ensure that 25 to 30 percent of its locally produced goods go for export.
Koh Poh Koon, Singapore Minister of State for Trade and Industry, who led Singaporean trade delegation to Lagos Free Trade Zone, said that the visit was prompted by the need for the trade delegation from Singapore to understand the market potential in Nigeria and their inherent opportunities.

“It was also good to have seen the Greenfield projects that Tolaram Group has been developing in Lagos in the past decades, which includes the port project and the Free Trade Zone. I think they need to create more awareness for other companies to explore opportunities in the project,” he stated.

The Singaporean minister said that investment in the Free Zone was something of great interest for Singaporean companies to see and explore the opportunities in Nigeria.
On the likely investment to bring into Nigeria, the minister said that the Singaporean companies would be in a position to make the decision and know if they will come into Nigeria to invest in manufacturing of consumer goods or otherwise.

“This is my first visit to Nigeria and I have only visited Lagos State so far. I think that Nigeria is a big country with huge population, which presents exciting opportunities for investors in the consumer goods or service providers to explore. We also hope to work with Nigeria in the area of bringing our expertise to grow her economy,” he added.

Culled from Businessday online