The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has appealed to both Lagos and Ogun state governments for the provision of open spaces for the construction of standard trailer parks for trucks assessing the ports in Lagos.
The NPA Managing Director; Hadiza Bala Usman, specifically requested yesterday that the Lagos state government should look at the land located around Apapa and use them in the over-ridding public interest and make them trailer parks, adding that there is need for trailer parks and holding bays in other to manage the traffic situation on the ports access roads.
The Managing Director of NPA who said this on Monday in Lagos when she appeared as guest on programme monitored Shipping Position Daily, also added that it was in the quest to address the traffic situation in the area that the Lilypond terminal was converted into a transit park for use by trucks.
“Well I think you know that the gridlock in Apapa has been lingering for too long now and the Nigerian Ports in the last three weeks withdrew the list for Lilypond as terminal and converted it into a trailer park”
“I am also calling on Lagos State Government to look at land locations and convert them for over-ridding public interest and make them trailer park. Let’s have trailer parks and holding bays for trucks to enable us manage traffic, we can’t have a situation where all trailers will not have a designated parking”, she explained.
“The gridlock in Apapa has been lingering for too long. The Nigerian port in the last three weeks withdrew the lease for Lilypond as a terminal and converted it into a trailer park. I would also call on the Lagos and Ogun State governments to look at land allocations and cancel them for overriding public interest and make them trailer parks outside of the port environment where those trailers can sit.
“We must have trailer parks and holding bays for trucks to enable us manage the traffic. We can’t have a situation where all trailers do not have designated parks.
“You must have as a state and local government, designated locations for trailers to park. NPA intends to now have call-up systems that will be deployed in these trailer parks.
“Lilypond is a transit park into the port but we need to have a large size trailer park that will house the trailers on the roads. It is a big challenge that we have and we will continue to see what we can do to decongest the bridges to ensure seamless inflow and outflow,”
Explaining further, Usman maintained that as a state or local government there is need to have a designated locations for trucks, even as she added that the agency intends to have a call-up systems for those parks.
She however said that most of the trucks parked on the roads have no business in the ports, but are just parked there on the roads looking for jobs.
“We must have as a state or local government designated locations for trailers to park. The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) intends to now have call up systems that will be deployed in these trailer parks”.
Explaining further, she said: “A lot of the trailers that people are seeing on the roads are the ones that have not business in the ports but are just on the roads looking for business. So if the Lagos state government and indeed the Ogun state government define trailer parks, so those trucks that don’t have current business should go and remain in the trailer park. And any consignee that wants to hire a trailer should go to that park and hire and now we can work on the call-up system that when you are called upon, you can come”.
She charged the Lagos state government to withdraw some of the land allocations for trailer parks and either issue them out or develop them to standard parks.
“The traffic situation in Apapa will not reduce unless there is a concerted effort to have a trailer park. I am also using this opportunity to call on the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing to complete work on the trailer park at Tin Can Island”, she added.
“There is a trailer park inside Tin Can Island that the ministry of works has been constructing for the past 10years now. I have held discussing with the ministry of this trailer since I resumed office two and half years ago. In December 2017, I made a request to the ministry of works that they should hand over that trailer park to NPA, so that we can conclude and have it ready and we are still here in 2019; it has not been finished nor handed over”
According to her, completing the park will go a long way in decongesting the roads.
“It will go a long way in assisting in decongesting the roads. If you have Lilypond operating as a transit into the port and you have TinCan Island those will be the last place where trucks will go before assessing the ports. And then the state government will have large dedicated trailer parks outside the ports environment where those trailers can park. You know this is a big challenge and we will see what we can do to decongest the bridges and see seamless inflow and outflow”, she stated.
The NPA boss also decried the inability of government to ensure the take-off of National Single Window as well as lack of functional scanners in the nation’s seaports ..
“One of the concerns we have is that when cargo comes into the port, we do physical examination. There is absence of scanners at the port and the Customs have not deployed the scanners that are required.
“An additional tool we need to deploy for trade facilitation is the single window. That is also another issue that ports in neighbouring countries have, so cargo clearance is fast and seamless. If you deploy single window, every agency will now key in there”
According to her “no agency is supposed to stop any cargo once they have done examination inside the port but we have seen where Customs insist on having another examination outside the port. These are some of the challenges we are facing on the ease of doing business”.
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