FOR long, the traffic gridlock at the Apapa and Tin Can Island ports in Lagos has cost so much loss – in man hours and cash.
Vehicles often break down and goods get bad. All that will soon end – courtesy of a plan by the authorities.
Part of the plan is to revive the road system.
The Managing Director, Nige-rian Ports Authority (NPA), Mallam Habib Abdullahi, the Acting Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Pastor Haruna Baba Jauro and the Executive Secretary, Nigerian Shippers’ Council, Mr. Hassan Bello, have jointly expressed concern over the gridlock.
Speaking at a stakeholders’forum organised by the Senate Committee on Marine Transport in Lagos, last week, they said the congestion needed to be resolved by the government.
The gridlock, according to them, is the result of poor access roads leading to the ports, lack of holding bays for trucks, undue dwell time of cargoes and the uncoordinated entry of trucks and tankers into the ports area, among others.
The popular thinking is that an efficient rail lines linking the ports with other states, would decongest the ports and reduce the pressure on Lagos roads.
Abdullahi said some policies guiding ports operations should be reviewed.
He said a lot of work had to be done on the roads leading to the Lagos Port Complex (LPC) and the Tin Can Island Port Complex (TCIPC), adding that the provision of adequate rail lines connecting the ports with major cities remains a major panacea to the gridlock.
The NPA, he said, is the most affected organisation in the maritime industry.
Abdullahi said: “The rail lines that used to convey cargoes from the ports to other parts of the country are no longer functioning, the resuscitation of these services will surely reduce the hardship being faced by commuters and other stakeholders,” he said.
To him, petroleum cargoes coming into the country should be diverted from Lagos to other ports because the initial design of the ports was far below the volume of cargoes they are forced to handle. He called for the relocation of the petroleum tank farms from Apapa because of the danger they pose to the ports.
Transportation of petroleum products by rail from the Lagos ports to the North, particularly Kano, which he witnessed as a youth, Abdullahi said, no longer exist. He, therefore, called on the relevant authorities to rise up to this challenge.
Besides, he suggested that petroleum products could be pumped through the pipes from the ports to other areas.
“I want to appeal to this committee not to look at the transportation sector alone, but at other policies that affects the economy as well, especially the importation of petroleum products into the country.
“Must it be only Lagos, why can’t we divert some vessels to other neighbouring ports, why can’t we come up with new ideas like piping of these petroleum products, this will reduce a lot of vehicular movements around the ports.
“The port was built several years ago and anywhere there are port activities, there is huge economic and environmental effect. Apapa is now a commercial area with banks as well as other activities going on there. The roads leading to the port now serve the West African sub region, because of these activities there is always congestion. You don’t have to look at the roads alone, but at other factors, the rail transport and inter-modalism are very important,” he said.
Abdullahi urged the Federal Ministry of Works to fix the roads leading to the ports. “I am happy the works ministry has owned up to their responsibility. It is their responsibility to take care of that road, it is also the responsibility of the Lagos State Government to provide security, and to develop other connecting roads,” Abdullahi said.
On his part, the Acting Director- General, NIMASA lamented the effect of the gridlock on the economy, saying that staff productivity had been affected as they are being emotionally and physically drained or harassed by armed robbers on their way to and from work.
The NIMASA boss bemoaned a situation where staff of the agency were being forced to sleep in hotels at Apapa because of the gridlock.
The Executive Secretary of NSC corroborated NPA’s position and lent his voice to trucking policy that would set standards and regulations.
According to him, between 5,000 and 7,000 trucks ply the Apapa corridor every day, while about 2,000 or 3,000 trucks are needed daily at the corridor. The remaining trucks, Bello said, are constituting nuisance and delaying vehicular movement in the area.
The NSC boss called for the immediate repair of all the failed sections of the road leading to Apapa to ease the congestion; registration of trucks coming to Apapa with their company’s name; stoppage of rickety trucks from entering the ports; building of new deep seaports; installation of electronic gate; issuance of call-up cards to truck drivers and institutionalisation of a legal framework that will give more powers to the agencies and punish the offenders.
The Chairman of the Committee and former Zamfara State governor, Senator Yerima Ahmed Sani, said the committee embarked on the exercise as a result of the resolutions of the Senate expressing concern about the gridlock.
The committee, he said, would leave no stone unturned in ensuring that the Apapa gridlock is solved.
He called on stakeholders to come up with suggestions on how best to combat the menace, pointing out that whatever affects the efficiency of the port affects the nation’s economy
