The National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) has expressed its readiness for inland waterways transportation business.
The General Manager, Lagos Zone of NIWA, Enginner Mauzu Sambo, who disclosed this in an interview with Shipping Position Daily in Lagos, also said that having made the federal government to commit N34billion to dredge River Niger, the agency is ready to get more private sectors to invest more in barges through inland waterways transportation.
He also said that the project will help to reduce the rate of traffic on the ports’ link roads.
Speaking further on the inland transportation business, he said, “NIWA is ready for the inner waterways transportation business having made the Federal Government to commit N34billion to dredge the River Niger, we now need to get the private sector to come in; people who are ready to invest in barges’’
‘’Look at the problem with the Apapa port access road, if you have badges it won’t happen. 10 badges can be moved by one tug, each badge is 1,000 tonnes and when you have 10 badges you have 10,000 tonnes. Do you know how many trucks you are taking off the road? One barge will be taking away about 33 trucks off the road”, he stated.
He also emphasized that it will create more jobs for all classes of workers and will also bring development to the area.
“The move will create more jobs on the water. Let me tell you why it will create more jobs, there are lots of Niger Delta boys and girls who have been sent abroad under the amnesty programme, who have gone to learn all these. When I was in Port-Harcourt, I know companies that build barges and tug boats; the only thing they import is the engine. So you will create jobs for welders, painters and so many other people. That is why when you develop water transportation, a lot of our communities that are poor and located at the water front will be developed”, he told our correspondent.
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