To improve the efficiency of existing seaports in Nigeria, the Federal Government, through the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) will be investing about $1.1 billion to fully rehabilitate decaying port infrastructure at Tin Can, Apapa, Rivers, Delta, Calabar and Onne seaports.
According to the Managing Director, NPA; Mohammed Bello Koko, some of these ports were built about century ago and have not been rebuilt since then.
He noted that due to the decaying quay walls, the terminal operators are unable to deploy modern cargo handling equipment such as ship-to-shore cranes.
He lamented that the deplorable state of the infrastructure often results in high turnaround times of vessels.
Specifically, the ports to be rehabilitated are: Tin-Can Island Port Complex, where there would be a reconstruction of 2, 563m Quay Wall and Pavement including other works.
At the Lagos Port Complex, there will be a reconstruction of 2,020m Quay wall to replace the old gravity wall between Berths 4 and 14.
There will also be a rehabilitation of collapsed 8.6 km Escravos Breakwaters in Delta ports, while at the Federal Lighter Terminal 2, in Onne Port, there will be a reconstruction of 200m Quay Wall.
Others are: Warri Old Port (Terminal C) Reconstruction of 80m sheet pile wall structure, Warri Old Port (Terminal A) Reconstruction of 280m quay structure.
The rehabilitation will also affect Calabar Dockyard in Calabar port.
Rehabilitation of the Calabar Dockyard.
Other affected parts of Calabar Port and Jetties will also be affected in the massive reconstruction.
According to the NPA boss, “when this is completed, the existing ports will be operational at full capacity and with improved efficiency, thereby reducing the TAT of vessels and cargo dwell times”.
