●Appeals for collaboration with Lagos govt to remove traders obstructing port access roads
The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has urged contractors handling ongoing repairs on the two major arteries into the ports in Lagos – the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway and the Leventis Bridge on the Apapa-Wharf Road – to hasten repair works to ease movements of trucks in and out of the port.
The Authority also appealed to the Lagos State Government to collaborate with it to remove traders that are occupying nearly a half of the newly-constructed roads.
This, according to the Authority, would free up the port access roads.
Speaking on Wednesday in Lagos after a tour of Apapa/Tin-Can/ Mile 2 access roads to the port, Managing Directof of the NPA, Mohammed Bello-Koko, called on Buildwell Construction and HITECH Construction, contractors in charge of works on the Leventis Bridge and Apapa-Oshodi Expressway respectively, to work round-the-clock to achieve early completion of repair works on the roads.
According to him, “the opening of the Leventis Bridge is critical because shutting it down to traffic has started affecting port operations.”
He said the ports had started witnessing a longer waiting time for vessels, a longer dwell time of cargo at the port and the cost of transportation had also gone up because of the shutdown.
“With the closure of the Leventis Bridge, everything is almost at a standstill. This road is critical to the economy and the nation at large. We understand the importance of closing the bridge around Leventis for repairs to avoid a collapse but it is seriously impacting port operations,” Bello-Koko said.
He stated that the situation was due to the fact that Western Avenue had been the major means of movements of cargo into both Tin-Can and Apapa Ports since 2021 when the Cele/Mile 2/ Sunrise end of the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway was closed to traffic due to construction.
He, however, said that the NPA had been able to get the commitment of HITECH to deliver the first section of the road from Sunrise to Mile 2 in about 30 days.
He indicated that the delivery would be by the end of October, pointing out that once that was achieved, the second section would continue.
On the security concerns discouraging the contractors from working at night, he said the NPA had secured the commitment of AIG Maritime adding the Authority also planned to speak with other security agencies to provide security for the contractors to enable them work at night.
Robert Turnor, a representative of HITECH Construction, said that the issue of insecurity had been a challenge to workers and property on the site, thereby making it difficult to work at night.
Adewale Adeyanju, president general of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, who said that the road situation was impacting negatively on the health of both maritime workers and port users, said that many importers had moved their businesses to the ports in neigbouring countries.
He expressed sadness that a sizeable portion of the Tin-Can Island Road had been turned into a marketplace where people were buying and selling.
He lamented that this was creating serious security threats to life and property.
He called on the government to declare a state of emergency on the roads leading to the ports because “Nigeria is losing lots of revenue to the (bad) state of the road.”
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