NPA revokes lease agreement on Lilypond terminal-to convert it to trailer park

The Nigerian Ports Authority(NPA) has revoked the five-year lease agreement on Lilypond containers terminal it entered into with Lilypond Container Terminal Limited.

The move was to convert the facility into a trailer park to contain the malignant traffic gridlock on the ports access roads.

Confirming this to our reporter, Engr. Adams Jatto, NPA’s General Manager in charge of Public Affairs, said the move became imperative as a way of addressing the traffic crises facing Lagos ports.

According to him, the authority will resume activities there to do some expansion work and ascertain the number of trucks to be accommodated at the Ijora facility.

He added that NPA will adopt an orderly electronic call up system for trucks to be parked in the terminal before they access the ports in Lagos to address the traffic issues.

Jatto had earlier disclosed that NPA leased it out with effect from September 2018 after its initial ten year lease expired in 2016.

Jatto said in a statement that “Lilypond Container Terminal was erroneously concessioned ab-initio, this was because the said terminal does not have a waterfront for loading and offloading of cargo.

” Consequently, after the expiration of the lease, the terminal was however reclassified and granted a five year development lease ”

Findings indicates that NPA made a total of N565,142,063:36k from lease of the facility in 2017 and N560,734,047: 00k in 2018. This makes a total of less than N1.2m in two years

With the revocation, container terminal operator, APM Terminals Apapa, may have lost influence over control of the facility.

Clearing agents operating at the terminal had complained of about 300 job loss due to the idle state of the facility and alleged refusal by APMT to stem containers there.