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Tag: Apapa Wharf

  • Apapa gridlock: Senate committe gives owners two weeks to clear trucks, trailers

    The Senate Committe on Works has issued a two week ultimatum to truck owners,  Nigerian Port Authority and other agencies to remove every  truck/trailer causing traffic jam on Apapa-Wharf and Apapa-Oshodi roads.

    Besides, one-week deadline was given to the contractor handling trailers’ park at Tincan Port to complete the project for commissioning and immediate use.

    Also, other agencies handling various  logistics operations at the Apapa port were issued another one-week ultimatum to brace up.

    In what he described as “a national embarrassment” for trailers to turn bridges and major roads leading to the port to parks,  the Senate Committe Chairman, Senator Kabiru Gaya, warned that if there is no positive response after two weeks,  the committee would take a definite action and compel the Federal Government to do something drastic.

    Gaya, who led other senators on the committee like Barnabas Gemade, Clifford Ordia and Mao Ohambuwa on a fact finding mission to Lagos to seek a solution to the Apapa traffic jam, said they had come to sit with all stakeholders to provide immediate solutions to the gridlock.

    He said :” Let me say for two weeks, we will see positive response. If we don’t, we will take our action and  I can assure you that the federal government  will do something drastic.”

    On the automatic call up system for trailers,  Gaya stated that government was trying to get temporary parking spaces for trailers to ease traffic, calling on agencies that are concerned with trucks’ clearance to speed up the process by automating  their system of operations.

    He bemoaned alleged  illegal taxes levied on truck drivers for parking , calling on the security agencies to desist from the act.

    As part of measures to ease Apapa gridlock,  Gaya said a small committee has been set up  to submit report to the Senate Committe within four days.

    He wants NPA and other agencies to give waivers to shippers so that other ports such as Warri and Port Harcourt ports could be attractive for use.

    During the emergency meeting  on decongestion of traffic jam in Apapa in Lagos, stakeholders such as representatives from NPA, truck drivers’ associations, the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority,  Federal Roads Safety Commission and shippers spoke on causes of the gridlock and how to nib it in the bud.

    Inadequate loading bays by ship owners, bottleneck procedures of clearance, multiple check points by the Nigerian Customs and decadence of port infrastructure were listed as factors responsible for trailers gridlock on Apapa road.

    General Manager Security, NPA,  Captain Iheanacho Ebubeogu , stated what his agency was doing to fast track trailer clearance,  calling on other companies to comply with modus of its operation at the port.

    Director of Work in the South west urged owners of trailers to remove them from the road and park them in designated locations.

  • FG to institute Wreck Insurance Policy soon – MD NPA

    The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) says Federal Government will soon institute a Wreck Insurance Policy (WIP) for vessels arriving in Nigerian ports for operational efficiency and navigational safety.

    The NPA Managing Director, Ms Hadiza Usman, made this known in Lagos on Friday while addressing major stakeholders of the nation’s maritime sector at a one-day Quarterly Summit of the Ports Consultative Council (PCC).

    Usman said that the policy would provide avenue for the port management to evacuate abandoned vessels in the entire nation’s territorial water.

    She also said that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) had granted approval for a Private-Public Partnership (PPP) agreement of N72 billion for the ports access roads in Apapa and Tin Can Island.

    On the gridlock on port access roads, she said that only trucks that were housed in the proposed trailer parks would be allowed entry into the port locations soon.

    “The management is to deploy an electronic call-up system that allows access to the ports only when they are needed.

    “The Apapa Wharf road reconstruction project has reached 85 per cent completion.

    Read Also: Apapa Wharf road ready in September – NPA

    “The road will be fully completed in the next four to six weeks period,” Usman said in a statement.

    She said that the efficient utilisation of inland waterways was key to decongestion of ports access road.

    Usman said that a company, ‘Connect-Rail’, which was engaged by the authority to provide barge evacuation, was currently moving cargoes and several tons of containers between Ikorodu and the terminals through the water.

    “The management of NPA was desirous on how it could use the waterways farther even away from Ikorodu to other locations to ease the congestion of Apapa and Tin Can Island axis,” she said.

    Chief Kunle Folarin, the Chairman of the Council, said that the meeting was strategic and an avenue to examine issues relating to the operations of the port industry, especially as it concerned port operators.

    Folarin said that at the end of the meeting, the council always came up with a blue print that would enhance efficient port operations and management.

    He described Usman in three words of Decisive, Resourceful and Engaging.

    Folarin lauded the NPA boss for addressing issues that affected port operations, adding that the issues were germane for efficient port administration.

  • Apapa Wharf road ready next month

    The Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Ms Hadiza Usman, yesterday said the two-kilometre Apapa Wharf Road now being rebuilt will be opened next month.

    Ms Usman said the reconstruction, which would cost N4.34 billion, would enable the Federal Government to achieve Ease of Doing Business.

    She said NPA was working with the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing to rehabilitate all ports’ access roads in the country to ensure a level-playing field and to also facilitate trade.

    According to her, NPA and the ministry will develop a mechanism for funding the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the roads.

    Ms Usman said the government had also approved the  reconstruction of Tin-Can Island Port access road to Mile 2.

  • Apapa Wharf road ready in September – NPA

    The Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Ms Hadiza Usman, has said that the 2km Apapa Wharf Road being reconstructed would be completed and opened to motorists by the end of next month.

    Usman made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Sunday.

    The managing director said that the reconstruction which would cost N4.34 billion would enable the Federal Government to achieve its goals as regards the Ease of Doing Business.

    She said that NPA was working with the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing to rehabilitate all ports’ access roads in the country to ensure a level playing field and to also facilitate trade.

    According to her, NPA and the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing will develop a mechanism for funding all reconstruction and rehabilitation of ports’ access roads.

    She said that government had also approved the commencement of reconstruction of Tin-Can Island Port access road to Mile that the contractor would start work any moment.

    She also said that the Apapa Port had been illuminated for 24-hour port operations, noting that the authority was working toward an electronic gate system to stop touting within the port environment.

    Usman said that NPA had put in place an aggressive monitoring mechanism, adding that the authority visited the site from time to time to check the progress and any bottleneck within the construction area.

    NAN reports that the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, had on June 16, 2017, signed a N4.34 billion Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Dangote Group and other stakeholders for the reconstruction of Apapa Wharf Road.

    The project is being funded by AG Dangote Construction Company Ltd., an arm of the Dangote Group, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and Flour Mills of Nigeria.

    Fashola had explained that the gridlock in Apapa became compounded and had reached an unbearable level as transporters ignored the old system of moving cargo through rail to trucks and containers.

    He said that the choice of the transporters to use road instead of rail for haulage increased gridlock, caused degeneration as well as well hardship to residents of Apapa.

    Read also: ‘My intervention on East-West Road yielding results’

    He commended the leadership role’ of the stakeholders in solving the complex problems in Apapa and its environs.

    According to him, the situation has caused stress to residents, business owners and other stakeholders in the state.

    “As a result of all these unsavoury practices, we have reached a point of near total gridlock. It is difficult to move cargo in or out; difficult for residents to get home and this must stop,’’ he said.

    Fashola said that it took time to reach an agreement on the project because the stakeholders were putting up an effective design that would address the drainage problem because the area was water-logged.

    The minister said that though the three parties (Dangote, Flour Mills and NPA) were funding the project, the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing would supervise it through all the stages to ensure quality and compliance to standards.

    The construction commenced on July 17, 2017.

  • Apapa Wharf road reconstruction begins July 7

    STAKEHOLDERS in Apapa,Lagos,have  reached an agreement to take necessary measures in Apapa to ensure commencement of reconstruction of Wharf Road leading to the nation’s major port on July 7.

    The stakeholders agreed on several issues at a meeting held at the office complex of the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing headquarters in Lagos.

    Those in attendance included representatives of traffic regulatory and traffic management agencies, law enforcement agencies, transport unions, petroleum products unions, port terminal operators and the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA).

    Others were telecommunication service providers, the Apapa Local Government, representatives of Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, AG Dangote Construction Company Ltd, contractors on the project, among others.

    The stakeholders, rising from the meeting, presented a communique read by Mr Godwin Eke, Federal Controller Works, Lagos and a consultant of AG Dangote Construction Company Ltd, Mr Kayode Opeifa.

    They agreed that the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing and NPA should collaborate to repair all bad roads and diversion routes, including Tin Can Island Road, Creek Road and Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, which will receive heavy traffic.

    The stakeholders resolved that a meeting be held between traffic regulatory agencies, law enforcement agencies and the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) on July 3 to fashion out a traffic management plan.

    “After the meeting and the discussions and approval, it will be communicated to all stakeholders. Then, we can ask the contractors to mobilize and begin the reconstruction of Apapa Wharf Road.

    “We all resolve to ensure that parked trucks be removed from Apapa Wharf Road for construction works to commence in phases on 7th July; it will never be a total closure of all the roads, but only on sections of the road where work will be done,” the communique stated.

    They agreed that stakeholders will corporate with any changes in time line of traffic management which will be communicated to all parties by both the NPA and the contractor through LASTMA, for effective traffic diversions during the period.

    The stakeholders also resolved that traffic management agencies would come up with a periodic traffic management plan backed by security provided by the security agencies.

    They agreed that the Sole Administrator of Apapa Local Government, Mr Luqman Alao, would work with all traffic management agencies, security agencies and the NPA, and coordinate activities between them and the military.

    The stakeholders commended the NPA, AG Dangote, Flour Mills of Nigeria and the Federal Ministry of Power, Work and Housing for coming together to execute the project.

    The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, on June 17, handed over the Apapa Wharf Road to AG Dangote Construction Company Ltd. for reconstruction.

    The site was handed over after the minister signed a N4.34 billion Memorandum of Understanding with stakeholders who were to fund the project.

    The project is to be funded by AG Dangote Construction Company Ltd, an arm of the Dangote Group, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and Flour Mills of Nigeria.

    The Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, on July 22, held the first stakeholders meeting with some concerned parties on how to achieve success and speed on the project.

    The ministry held another meeting with telecommunication service providers and others on Wednesday on how to relocate service cables and pipes in the Right of Way of the project.

    The two kilometre road has a completion period of one year.

  • Dangote, Govt, Flour Mills sign MOU on repair of Apapa Wharf Road

    Dangote, Govt, Flour Mills sign MOU on repair of Apapa Wharf Road

    …as FG hands over Apapa Wharf road to Dangote, FMN

    Succor will soon come to users of Apapa Wharf road as Federal government handed over the troubled road to Dangote Industries Limited and Flour Mills of Nigeria (FMN) for immediate reconstruction with concrete overlay.

    After the nation and port users have lost several billions of Naira on the dilapidated road, thenFederal government at the weekend in Lagos signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the two companies to repair the road. The construction of the road will be handled by AGDangote, a subsidiary of Dangote industries limited.

    Dangote Group and FMN are funding the project valued at N4.3 billion. AGDangote is handling the construction of the road. They have constructed concrete roads in Ibese, Ogun State and currently working on roads in Obajana.

    Speaking at the MOU signing ceremony held at the Conference Hall of Area B Command of the Nigeria Police, Apapa, Honorary Adviser to the President/Chief Executive of Dangote Group, Engineer Joseph Makoju said the Group is moved by the deplorable state of the road which informed the need to look for like-thinking partners to effect repairs and salvage the road.

    According to him, the deplorable state of the road has impacted negatively on businesses, activities and lives of people within the locality. He explained that the state of the road crippled economic activities as people spend whole days in traffic losing precious work hours

    Makoju opined that the two kilometer road to the gate of Apapa is vital to the nation’s economy and described it as the national economy’s artery.

    He commended the Managing Director of the Nigeria Ports Authority, who he said put in extra efforts to ensure the handing over of the road for reconstruction as the project has been on ground for over a year. The new road, he said will be concrete based in contrast to laterite base and has a life span of between 30 years to 50 years.

    He described the road reconstruction as a higher form of corporate social responsibility as Dangote Group is not asking for tax rebates. According to him, businesses need to engage with host communities through corporate social responsibility projects to ensure sustainability.

    He said, “here at Dangote, we have built houses, new towns, hospitals, schools, roads, markets and awarded scholarships in the communities where we have our operations but this is a higher form of corporate social responsibility. This project is a higher form of intervention on a national level, intervening in provision of critical infrastructure.”

    However, he tasked government to do more in terms of providing a conducive and enabling business environment for businesses to thrive stressing that If the environment is conducive and right, businesses will thrive and do more in terms of interventions in national infrastructure.

    Minister of Works, Babatunde Fashola in his remarks at the event said, “We are here to embark on what will be the final solution to a massive inconvenience business and people in Apapa suffered over the years. Apapa is the nation’s first industrial base and was served by a good rail system. Cargo and containers were moved by rail to all parts of the country. The road network was for transport of passengers. The roads were good.

    However, we allowed the rails to collapse and choose road for evacuation of containers and cargo. But we are working to stop all these. The minister of transport is taking steps to revive the rails and evacuation of cargo and containers from the ports.”

    He disclosed that for several years government adopted palliative measures towards the road while waiting for a final solution and especially thanked Dangote Group and Flour Mills for coming take over the road for repairs. He said, “we must thank Dangote Group and Flour mills for coming to our aid via providing the funding for the repairs. The repairs estimated for a duration of one year is valued at N4.3 billion.”

    Explaining why it took government some time before handing over the road for repairs, he said, “The delays in handing over the road for reconstruction was because of the need to put final touches to the road design. Apapa has high water table and any road built here must have proper drainages otherwise it will be experiencing constant flooding.”

    He added, “We have done the survey and prepared the bill of quantity. The two kilometer road which will be based on concrete is estimated at N4.3 billion. A concrete base instead of laterite is chosen. Concrete base has a lifespan of between 30 to 50 years and in many developed countries, concrete base is used presently for roads. AG Dangote, a subsidiary of Dangote Group is chosen as the contractor. The construction and funding will be on corporate social responsibilities bases as they will not be seeking for tax reliefs.”

    Fashola called on all stakeholders to corporate with the constructing company and traffic controllers because there would be distortions and road diversions. All road users should exercise patience because it will get better, he said.