- Dangote,Works Ministry at loggerheads over Wharf road palliatives
- Stakeholders urge FG to declare state of emergency on port roads
By Kenneth Jukpor and Oyeniyi Iwakun
He said the road would be fixed by the contractors under public private participation(PPP) at the stated amount but declined to divulge the model of PPP, arguing that the contract was yet to be signed, yet could not explain the variation in the cost of rehabilitation in a space of months.
Recall that the Minister had earlier this year stated that the less than 4 kilometre road would cost N100billion to be fixed, adding however that it was not provided for in 2017 budget. Again, the it was not provided for in 2018 budget, leaving port users helpless with daily carnage and economic losses to the nation, a development that has made maritime stakeholders to describe it as the worst access road in Lagos.
The Minister, while delivering a paper at a recent business luncheon organized by Women’s International Shipping and Trading Association (WISTA) Nigeria, said that several potential concessionaires have expressed interest under PPP for the re- construction of Apapa-Oshodi Expressway.
According to Mr. Kabiru Hamzat who represented the Minister at the event, it was inappropriate to disclose names of those who have indicated interest in the project until the process was concluded; while stakeholders have continued to lament over the deplorable state of the road which has impacted negatively on businesses, activities and lives of people within the locality.
In another mind-blogging revelation at the event, the Minister stated that Dangote’s re-construction of the Wharf road in Apapa wasn’t on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) but a form of tax rebate that would see the company’s tax payment waved in the future while Dangote Group had earlier explained that its participation in the project was a form of corporate social responsibility during the MoU signing.
The adviser to the President of Dangote Group, Engineer Joseph Makoju said the Group was 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 Makoju, “Dangote Group is not asking for tax rebates. Businesses need to engage with host communities through corporate social responsibility projects to ensure sustainability. 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 CSR. This project is a higher form of intervention on a national level, intervening in provision of critical infrastructure”
Nigerians are puzzled at the Ministry of Works with this notion that Dangote’s contribution isn’t a CSR but a form of tax rebate on the 2 kilometer road to the gate of Apapa which has been described as the national economy’s artery.
On the issue of budgetary provisions for port access roads, the Managing Director of NPA, Ms. Hadiza Bala-Usman recently stated that she had written several letters to the Ministry of Works regarding the budgetary provision for the roads around the port locations, even as she lamented the absence of budgetary provision for such critical infrastructure.
“It is important to note that the letters that we have been writing to the Ministry aren’t just for the Apapa and Tin Can port roads but for all port access roads in the country. We have asked the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing to provide clarity on the budgetary provision for access roads into our ports.
“They don’t have a budget that could take all of the roads and that formed the basis why the Nigerian Ports Authority provided N1.8bilion for the construction of the Wharf road. This isn’t our responsibility but we have got to a stage where we couldn’t shy away from providing the fund. The issue is clearly the absence of budgetary provision but we are working with the Ministry of Works to ensure that these roads are constructed” she said.
However, she said that NPA would always be available to see how it could provide budgetary support or funding support for the construction of all port access roads in the country.
On the pace of Apapa road reconstruction, the Managing Director of NPA, Ms. Hadiza Bala-Usman lamented at the slow pace of the construction as a result of the relocation of some properties.
“The funding of the project didn’t include the cost of relocation and the challenges of funding the relocation of utilities became an issue. They found gasoline and electric power cables that need to be relocated. We have reported that concern to the minister of works, Mr. Babatunde Fashola. He is also relating the problem to the Bureau of Public Procurement to look funding components and include the cost of relocation of utility to enable the constructors make progress” she added.
Some pundits have asserted that the Oshodi-Apapa road (especially the Coconut- Tin Can region) has more economic benefits when compared to the Wharf road which is undergoing reconstruction via efforts of Dangote Group, Flour Mills and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).
The Tin Can axis of the Oshodi-Apapa road has turned into an arena of the ungodly as a result of state of the roads.
A late night trip to Tin Can by our correspondent recently was greeted with truck drivers sexually harassing young girls and women who do petty trade around the vicinity. MMS Plus correspondence saw several truckers harassing these women after patronizing them.
These drivers have equally turned thieves at night as they scramble to irk something out of unfortunate passersby. The deplorable state of the road hasn’t only been a major challenge to the economic activities of the ports but also a moral threat to the inhabitants in the region.
The long list of tank farms situated less than 1km from one another has also become a main source to concern to the inhabitants and well as the business community.
The Chairman, Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN), Princess Vicky Haastrup, last week, condemned reports that the Federal Government had granted approval for an oil company to open a new tank farm on Creek Road, Apapa.
Haastrup described the reported approval as ill-timed and ill-advised. Nevertheless, concerned stakeholders have called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on the road to enable the government carry out a total re-construction.
While speaking with MMS Plus at the recent stakeholders’ appreciation Night organized by the Nigerian Shippers’ Council last week, the Chairperson, Ship Owners Forum, Barr. (Mrs.) Margaret Orakwusi admonished the government to declare state of emergency on all port access roads.
“A businessman knows that time is money but everyone knows what the traffic situation is in Apapa. These roads were constructed about 50 years ago but the Nigerian population has grown significantly since that time. The volume of activities at the ports has also increased so there is need for the construction of a new road. There is a dire need to declare a state-of-emergency on all roads leading to the ports to construct new roads”, Orakwusi said.
Similarly, the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has written to President Mohammadu Buhari on the need to declare a state of emergency on the port access roads in Lagos.
Part of the letter read; “We appeal to you Sir, to declare a state of emergency on Port Access Roads leading to the Apapa and Tin Can Island Ports in Lagos. The tank farms that envelope the entire Apapa and environs should as a matter of urgency be relocated outside the port environment to make the fuel tankers that come into Apapa everyday to lift fuel on a daily basis be looked into”
“Apapa and Tin Can Island Ports are the two critical ports that when well harnessed can bring up to N7trn annually to the country. On daily basis articulated trucks and petrol tankers stay for days on bridges that were not initially built to carry such enormous weight leaves much to be desired. We believe that the integrity of these bridges right now could be called to question. It has been said that because of this unacceptable situation Nigeria is losing close to N12bn daily. This is beside the stress and concurrent health implication to those who commute on these roads daily” the NAGAFF letter read.
Meanwhile, in a drastic move to proffer expedient ameliorations to the nightmares and bottlenecks posed by the dilapidated deadly Tin-can port road, the Federal Ministry of Works has reportedly announced plans to begin palliatives on Monday 27th, November 2017, MMS Plus source revealed.
This came as a result of the interaction between the ministry and the ports stakeholders who lamented the challenges and other bitter experiences encountered by the ports road users on daily basis.
MMS Plus findings revealed that the move might not be farfetched from the reactions and agitations by stakeholders on NPA’s recent policy mandating shipping companies to move empty trucks off the road, and the directive to maintain single lane system by trucks and other measures aimed at solving the Apapa and Tin Can traffic gridlock.
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