Provide Separate Access Road for Petroleum Tankers, Operators Urge FG

By ZION Olalekan |

Operators in the oil and gas sector have called on the Federal Government to take a cue from the Lagos State Government and create a special route on the Apapa expressway for petroleum tankers and trucks seeking access to petroleum tank farms around the ports in Apapa.

The downstream stakeholders suggested that the BRT buses model adopted by the Lagos State Government should be copied by the Federal Government to bring lasting solution to the incessant traffic gridlock in Apapa.

A petroleum marketer at Tin Can Island Port, Comrade Chima Daniels in a chat with our correspondent argued that apart from the option of moving the petroleum tank farms from Apapa port area, the federal government should consider adopting BRT lane model where tankers would be given a special lane.

Comrade Daniels observed that this model is also being used at the Port Harcourt port and Onne to ease petroleum product movement.

“We have got to move some of the tank farms away from Apapa if we really have to face realities, the tank farms should be moved to Badagry, Ikorodu. However, this is not the only solution that can be explored, there is the BRT model which was practiced by the Lagos state Government by creating a special lane for BRT busses and it has been highly successful.

“The difference between the tank farms in Lagos and those in other parts of the country like Port Harcourt is that the access road for the tankers is different from the access road for the dry port cargoes and this is why they don’t feel so much pressure, this is the approach they should have given to Lagos”.

Comrade Daniels lamented that the traffic situation in Apapa has been compounded because there is only a single access road where thousands of trucks are coming in and out of the port area daily.

Corroborating what the marketer said, another oil and gas practitioner, Mr. Wale Odu said that the difference between Lagos and other busy ports like Port Harcourt and Onne is that the access road to the port is different from the access for the tank farms, he said this has further reduced the burden of operators in that area.

Secondly, Wale Odu, observed that “The ports in Port Harcourt for now, in terms of infrastructure are far better than what we have in Lagos; it is not as if the road is fantastic, but they are better.

“In a situation where you have a breakdown of truck on the road and this causes congestion in a day, Port Harcourt is not facing that headache.

“People that operate in oil and gas, we pay our duty to the last kobo and we don’t shortchange government, you cannot compare it to Lagos, the people clear their cargoes, it doesn’t go to the road, they have their stacking area from where it goes to the rig” he said.