The Nigerian Ports Authourity (NPA) has restated its commitment to total rehabilitation of the roads leading into the ports in Lagos.
The agency stated this while responding to mounting criticisms over the state of roads leading into Apapa port and the apparent delay in the completion of rehabilitation works on the roads.
Reacting to the worries that were expressed by stakeholders over the bad state of the roads, the NPA on Wednesday acknowledged the worries, but noted that the road had become bad over a period of many years.
The NPA in a statement signed by its Asst. General Manager, C&SC Ibrahim Nasir explained that although the repair is not part of its statutory responsibilities, it nevertheless committed a huge sum to it.
According to the NPA, “the dilapidated state of the road, which has gone on for almost two decades has become a thing of concern to everyone transacting business in the Apapa area of Lagos including the Authority, whose prime facilities are located in this axis”.
“This accounts for the Authority’s decision to collaborate with other stakeholders who agreed to a Memorandum of Understanding facilitated by the Federal Ministry of Power Works and Housing to reconstruct the entire Wharf Road. These stakeholders include The Nigerian Ports Authority, Dangote Group and Flour Mills plc.’’.
“Although the repair of roads is not the statutory responsibility of the Authority, it has committed the sum of N1.8b to the reconstruction of the Wharf Road and contractors from Messers AG Dangote Construction Company, were mobilized to site in July 2017”
“As a result of this, the stretch of road for the outbound lane (Ijora Bridge-Barracks Junction) has been condoned off as work has commenced”.
“To further alleviate the envisaged congestion, the Authority awarded the contract for palliative works on Creek Road to Messers CGC Nigeria Limited”
“Palliative works was carried out on the damaged portion of the roadway and is now designated an alternative route in and out of the Lagos Port Complex. Further repair works were equally carried out on other alternative routes around the corridor”, it explained.
The NPA also added that it” is also exploring the feasibility of deploying multimodal cargo haulage around the Apapa axis. To this end, talks are on with the Nigeria Railway Corporation to encourage movement of cargo by rail to and from Apapa Ports and increase the frequency of evacuation since one train movement is equal to about 70 truck movements”.
It disclosed that, “the NPA has also gotten approval for the movement of cargo by barges over water as alternative to road transportation. The Authority is therefore, not just to working towards reducing congestion, but to also ensure that less pressure is put on the roads by enhancing opportunities to use other modes of transportation”.
Discussion about this post