After about six years of prolonged deliberation on the project, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has finally commenced construction of the all-important 1.6 kilometer port access road at the Apapa premier port.
When completed, the road which is in the heart of Apapa port and which is to cost a whooping N3billion is expected to service all the terminal operators and other port users.
After about six years of prolonged deliberation on the project, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has finally commenced construction of the all-important 1.6 kilometer port access road at the Apapa premier port.
When completed, the road which is in the heart of Apapa port and which is to cost a whooping N3billion is expected to service all the terminal operators and other port users.
Leading top management team on an inspection of the project yesterday, Managing Director of the NPA, Engr. Omar Suleiman explained that the project has been delayed as a result of misunderstanding of the port environment and real nature of the project by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP).
Fielding questions from journalists at the construction site in Lagos yesterday, Suleiman explained excitedly that; "We have been on this project for the past six years, but now we are happy the project has started".
He explained that the road is going to have a dual carriage way of 3lanes each on both sides which is to be completed under 18 months.
According to him, the road construction will not disturb port activity in anyway because it is going to be handled per 500 meters in order to avoid traffic inside the port.
"The road is for heavy traffic so we cannot afford to make this road very light, averagely it is about three and half lane, so that when a truck breaks down it won’t disturb traffic on the road" he said.
The project was awarded to Messers PW Construction Company. While speaking at the site, the engineer in charge of the construction, Mr. Ebenezer Osoba reiterated that the total weight of the road is 30 meters wide with provision for lighting and drainage so that on 24 hours, the road is functional.
"It is a dual carriage way of three lanes on either side and laybyes are provided in case of any break down so that there will be space provided free traffic flow" , he explained.
Explaining the true position of the access roads of the other ports in the country, Engr. Suleiman stated that some of the access roads have already been completed while others are ongoing.
"We are in Apapa now, we have finished Lillypond, also in Tin Can we have done three roads including the lighter terminal 1&2 and also the service lanes in Port Harcourt”.
The MD also explained that the rail network within the ports have been rehabilitated in order to further allow easy movement of cargoes to their destination points
"We are just waiting for the national rail to come up so that we can link up, without this we cannot do anything, we appreciate that we need to improve logistics within the port, this is why we have completed the rail and we are now starting the road".
"We have also awarded the rail inside Port Harcourt port, we are doing the one in Tin Can Island port, these are to create easy movement within the port" he stated.
Apart from this, Engr Suleiman also inspected the newly installed security and access control gadgets at the Apapa port, the essence of which is to monitor the movement of human and vehicular traffic in and out of the port.
This facility has been handed to a company; Map Telecommunications Limited for maintenance of the port access control.
General Manager of the company, Mr. Orien Barinbum explained to journalists that the network is to keep track of all the movements in the ports, both pedestrian and cargoes coming into the port.
"Port passes will be issued so that at every point in time we can know who is inside the port, every person coming into the port is being registered on the system, this will also assist us in controlling the traffic", he explained.
According to him, "in cases of incidences like rioting or gathering of people, the cameras can pick far away and analyse how the whole process started and be used as evidence. All the agencies coming into the ports are also given duty cards which are used to register their entrance into the port".
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