Some maritime stakeholders have called for construction of access roads to the new Lekki Deep Sea Port in Lagos to forestall traffic gridlock in the area.
Mr Remi Ogungbemi, the Chairman of Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMARTO), said that it would be a costly mistake if the Lekki Port was completed without the necessary infrastructure.
“It will be an unforgivable negligence if the facilitators of the Lekki Port fail to provide the necessary infrastructure like good access roads before flagging-off business activities in the port.
“At the moment, residents of the area contend with difficult traffic situation due to unavailability of alternative roads.
“With the port coming on stream the traffic situation will be compounded,’’ Ogungbemi said.
He urged the Lagos State Government to draw lessons from the Apapa gridlock and put adequate infrastructure around the Lekki Port.
Also a former President, National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF). Dr Eugene Nwaeke, said the government should make the Lekki Port attractive with a good road network.
“Importers will not like to face the lack of road infrastructure they go through daily on Apapa port in order to take delivery of their cargoes in Lekki,” Nwaeke said.
According to him, port users are overwhelmed by the stress and high cost of doing business caused by the unfriendly environment around Apapa and Tin-Can ports.
He appealed to the Lagos State Government to make provision of access roads to the Lekki Port a priority.
The Lekki Sea Port is 9.5 metres deep. The port was conceptualised based on the gap in projected demand and capacity.
The terminal was designed to support a throughput of 2.7 million TEUs annually.
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