Npa Canvasses Master Plan For Nation’s Ports

 The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) will soon canvass for a 25 year comprehensive master plan, which is expected to provide a road map for the development of the nation’s seaports over the next 25 years.
The plan will evolve from an assessment of the agency’s activities in the past and presently and also project into its future goals and targets.
Managing director, NPA, Malam Abdulsalam Mohammed who gave this hint at a recent media interaction in Abuja also disclosed that the organisation will soon advertise for consultants who would handle the job.
“We will soon go public on this.   We will publish adverts in both local and international media, so that we can attract the best hands for the job.  The consultant appointed should be able to assess what we did in the past, what we are currently doing and come up with a roadmap that will take the NPA forward in the next 25 years”, he explained.
The NPA boss expressed delight at the efforts of the present management in areas of the provision of infrastructure in the shore and the dredging of the navigational channels, adding that the performance of the management is being lauded by both the stakeholders and the users of the channels.
Opening up on what the agency has been able to achieve, he explained that “we have been able to increase the capacity of the Lagos channel from an average of about nine meters to about 11.5 meters.  Our interest is to achieve 12.5 meters within the next three or four months”.
“We have similarly been able to make some appreciable progress at the Bonny channel within the Liquefied Natural Gas facility.  We have provided up to 12.4 meters”, he said, adding that “we are working to maintain at least 10 meters up to Onne”.  From Onne junction to Port Harcourt, we are working on a programme that will take us to 8.5 meters in the next two to three months”.
“We are also working on the Calabar Channel with the intention of making the channel up to 10 meters from its current capacity”, he further explained.
The Managing Director expressed the strong belief that if the current efforts at dredging the channels by the Authority are maintained, it would make a significant difference in operation in the nation’s seaports in the next two years.
On the performance of the Authority in the area of infrastructure on shore, especially the common user facilities, he explained that efforts at rehabilitating these facilities in all seaports are currently in top gear, stressing that the Management has adopted an approach which would address all the challenges associated with common user infrastructures in a comprehensive manner.