Articulated trucks are back on the Apapa-Oshodi highway, thwarting the efforts by the Presidential Task Force on the clearing of the gridlock to restore sanity to the roads.
The task force swung into action last Saturday after the expiration of the 72 hours order by President Muhammadu Buhari for the trucks to move out or be impounded.
It has two weeks to clear the ports and its access roads of trucks and articulated vehicles.
Under the order, which equally set out the mandate of the task force, any truck that defies the order risks being permanently impounded and can only be released on the order of the President, consequent upon the fulfilment of the extant traffic regulations of the state.
Among other regulations, drivers of such trucks would have to be subjected to psychiatric test and must obtain a certificate from the Lagos State Drivers Institute after a retraining session.
Read Also: ‘Efforts on to clear Apapa roads of trucks’
The Vice Chairman of the task force, Mr. Kayode Opeifa, was unavailable for comments last night.
The exercise recorded some successes up till Tuesday.
From Sanya bus stop to Mile 2 was free of truck obstruction on Monday, restricting the trucks menace to begin from Coconut bus stop to Tin Can. The two Tin Can gates were blocked, while access from Second Gate to Apapa Wharf was cleared as at Tuesday.
The dilapidated state of the road from Coconut and Tin Can had been said to be responsible for the slow pace of work on the axis.
There was appreciable clean up on the Western Avenue, as trucks hitherto parked up to Onipanu, were cleared off the road. But as at Thursday, the trucks had overrun Ijora road and bridges, affecting Western Avenue via Costain bridge and road.
The task force said 54 private parks had been approved by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), “where these trailers are to park pending their being called up to either drop their containers or cargo or pick imports at the ports.”
Besides the parks, NPA also opened up the Lillypond Terminal for use, while the Customs were directed to collapse their checkpoints in order to remove the bottleneck identified to be contributing to the slowdown and traffic congestion.
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