OIL AND GAS
The operators also said that the area can no longer boast of being the biggest fuel suppliers to the country because many of the tank farms have been operating below 30 percent in the past five years.
They lamented that many staff have been laid-off due to inactivity at the tank farms.
Speaking at a stakeholders meeting to flag-off palliative repair of the failed portion of the roads last week, Chairman, Community of Depot Owners, Sabitu Ajadi said a lot of vehicles and cargoes belonging to the operators are being damaged on daily basis.
"For the past five years, we found out that the performance of all the petroleum depots is gradually dropping every year, we were performing below 30 percent.
Also, many of our staff have been laid-off due to the low revenue that the companies were earning"
"Between October and November 2017, we lost almost 10 souls between Sunrise bus stop and Coconut bus stop due to the bad road.
It has degenerated to a level where we were losing customers"
"In the past when Ibafon tank farms told the government they wanted to suspend operations, it was as if the whole nation was going on strike, but now we have competitors, the Kirikiri side has opened up, the Satellite town side has opened up and they are developing Ibeju Lekki area now"
"So, for you to have a successful business, you need to create a good access to woo your customers. In the past, this place used to be an energy distribution center, by the grace of God when the road is completed, we would go back to our status"
Ajadi lamented that the operators have held series of meetings with the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigeria Customs, Minister of Works, NUPENG and so on, for several years, but nothing came out of it.
He however said the stakeholders have decided to put resources together to undertake palliative repair of the roads themselves.
He said N230million is being set aside for the construction work which has been awarded to Messrs Segulat Construction Company. The project which covers repairs of both the expressway and the service lane is to last for three months.
Ajadi said a security and road traffic committee has been set up to ensure free flow of traffic while the construction is going on.
He urged tanker drivers to vacate the road for repairs, noting that when it is done, it would be for their benefit, he urged them to corporate with the engineers working on the site.
"They should ensure that a corridor is created from ‘1st Rainbow’ Bus Stop down to the Tin Can Island Port so that if we have vehicles or trucks bringing materials they can have access to where they are going, let the trucks maintain a single lane while the job is going on so that the time frame given to the contractors would not be extended"
"We appeal to the PTD and AMARTO task force to help us appeal to your people to corporate with the government agencies on ground so that there would be no friction and the free flow of traffic would be established"
Expatiating further on the construction, he said the palliative work will sustain the roads for the next three years for when government is ready to carry out full reconstruction of the road.
"The type of construction we are doing here is not asphalt as the federal ministry was doing, they were using concrete, but w
e taking into consideration the 30 to 40 tonnes vehicles that would be plying this road would have a lot of weight and it will damage the road within few months. So we are using reinforced concrete. If you go to site now you will hardcore that we have poured there, one of the bad spots got five trucks of hardcore"
Also speaking, the consultant on the repair project, Engr Olurotimi Adedeji said the total length of the road under construction is about 3.5kilometers.
According to him, the engineers have identified about 23 points which are failed portions of the road of various dimensions.
"We cannot even call them potholes again; we call them wells because of how deep they are. The contractors have been mobilised to site and within the next few weeks serious work will begin at the site. Even though it is a palliative work, it would still last for three years" he said.
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