Operators in the fairly-used automobile market have commended the Lagos State Government for restricting the movement of container-laden trucks on Lagos roads, most especially on the Apapa Oshodi expressway where vehicles are usually displaced for sale.
The automobile dealers have also confirmed that buyers have resumed shopping for cars at the various parks scattered along the expressway, as a result of drop in the number of haulage trucks plying the same route.
Operators in the fairly-used automobile market have commended the Lagos State Government for restricting the movement of container-laden trucks on Lagos roads, most especially on the Apapa Oshodi expressway where vehicles are usually displaced for sale.
The automobile dealers have also confirmed that buyers have resumed shopping for cars at the various parks scattered along the expressway, as a result of drop in the number of haulage trucks plying the same route.
According to him, dealers no longer experience blockage by trucks parked In front of the market any longer.
A cross section of the traders who spoke with Auto Port Weekly last week, also clamoured for permanent park within the metropolis where vehicles conveying cargoes from the ports should park.
Director Sunrise Motor Dealers Association; Pastor Andrew Uzor told our correspondent that though the decision by the government was painful, it has helped the dealers in some ways.
Highlighting some of the benefits recorded as a result of the restrictions on haulage vehicles, Uzor disclosed that consumers are gradually finding their ways back to the fairly used automobile market. He said that the free flow of vehicles encouraged buyers.
"The trailers in front of us now has been cleared and there are few customers coming to the parks where cars are sold along the expressway”
"They are coming to buy cars, unlike before but I pray that it will be sustained", he said.
Uzor also added that buyers are able to test drive the vehicles of their choice due to the available space on the road unlike before when it was logjam.
However, he appealed to the state government to provide holding bay for trucks and tankers to park, pointing out that Apapa Oshodi expressway is not the right place for tankers and trailers to park.
Uzor said that Apapa Oshodi expressway has been overstretched thus the need for government to provide space outside Apapa where those trucks can stay.
"I am urging the government to find a temporary place closer to ports and we sympathise with the truck drivers, especially those from far distance”, he stated.
On his part, a dealer at Freedom Park, in Mile 2,Mr. Sunny Nwachukwu stressed the need for government to provide facilities for the truckers to park, saying that the situation has made dealers to make profit in the last two weeks.
Nwachukwu added that government made a vital point by restricting movement of trucks, but advised the state government to provide adequate security for the transporters.
He urged the government to maintain the order by restricting the haulage trucks from parking along the market, stating that it is affecting car sales.
Also speaking, another dealer; Mr. Benjamin Okwukwe noted that presently buyers of used vehicles have been coming to buy cars and even find time to test-run their choice due to available space.
He maintained that the indiscriminate parking of the haulage vehicles pose a serious threat to sale of fairly-used cars along the expressway.
Nwachukwu said, "I cannot give actual figures of vehicles sold in the last two weeks but people are coming to buy and negotiate unlike before where the market was noisy and blocked due to the indiscriminate parking of trailers and tankers on this road”, he added.
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