Plans are at advanced stage by the private sector to expand the maritime capacity in Lagos to the Ijegun waterfront to ease the lingering congestion being experienced at Apapa and TinCan Island ports.
The new location, about 14 hectares (140,000sq meters) is expected to host the maritime community and take off 25 per cent of the Apapa traffic chaos.
Chairman, Westron Group of Companies, George Igboegwu, told media source that the establishment of Ijegun Ports City has brought rapid development and increased the overall storage capacity for petroleum products, thus reducing the incidence of shortages.
“The demand for ports facilities in the ever-growing city of Lagos has seen an exponential growth in the last few years. The resultant effect is that even the addition of TinCan port could still not meet this demand. This has led to the chaos Apapa has turned into, with the nation losing tonnes of money on daily basis. Efforts by government to ease the pains of Apapa have not yielded the desired result,” he said.
Igboegwu said there is need for the Federal Government to support the development of Ijegun Ports City, which would make importers, oil and gas operators, and other businesses to make use of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway and decongest the Apapa ports roads.
Westron Group has therefore constructed a one-kilometre road, bridge and water channel linking the Port City and Olagoke area of Ijegun. The facility is expected to be inaugurated by the Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa.
Igboegwu said: “The issues of the requisite infrastructure for the new city have been a recurring problem over the years. Various parties and companies with interest in the new city have, overtime, been making their contributions towards the development. The new bridge and road by Westron represents part of our contribution towards the infrastructure deficit in the new city.
“It is our hope that with the combined effort of both the private and public sectors, the Ijegun Ports City will see further growth, making significant contributions towards relieving the Apapa problem. It is projected that our present additional development in the area will see a further growth of 30 per cent in this new city,” he said.
Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, during a visit to the site earlier described the operation of tank farms at Ijegun, as a critical component of national development.
He assured private sector investors of his government’s commitment to contribute towards the development of the area, and providing the requisite infrastructure, among others.
Already, there are about 12 tank farms for liquid petroleum products in Ijegun (holding a combined storage capacity 600 million litres), and gas storage, even as the existing land mass can still accommodate about eight of such facilities.
