The deep-sea port of Lekki in Nigeria is among the new megaprojects in Africa. It shows how the Chinese government's loan boom is giving way to the commercial project market.

Chinese companies were moving from a model that limited them to engineering, procurement, construction, and finance to now taking stakes in managing infrastructure, observers say, once it has was built in a model known as integrated investment, construction and operation (IICO).

Indeed, IICO is now commonly used in Chinese discussions about public-private partnerships (PPPs). It is a long-term contract that generally includes construction, tolling an asset, financing. Also, it also comes in the form of build-operate-transfer; build, own, operate, transfer; and build-owner-operate contracts. The port of Kribi was financed by China Eximbank and subcontracted to China Harbour Engineering for the construction and who then joined the port operating joint venture as a minor shareholder.