Shippers’ Council accuses NPA of worsening traffic gridlock at Lagos Ports

Tayo Afolabi     |   

As port users continue to grapple with the malignant traffic gridlock on the Lagos port access roads, the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) has accused the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) of not implementing the  Intelligent Traffic Management System.

This system is for NPA electronic call up system project that will help alleviate the worsening traffic situation at Apapa and Tincan Island ports in Lagos.

The Deputy Director, Compliance Monitoring of the Council, Chief Cajethan Agu who disclosed this while delivering a lecture titled, ”Nigerian Shippers’ Council as an Interventionist Agency”, at a one day Annual Seminar for Maritime Journalists organized by the Council over the weekend in Lagos, recalled that shortly after its appointment as the economic regulator of the ports, NSC commissioned two studies, one of which was the port audit while the second one was on the port access road/GAP analysis.

Agu noted that the essence of the port access road/GAP analysis was to come up with a lasting solution to the incessant gridlock on the port access road even as he added that the Council, in a bid to achieve this, employed the services of a World Bank consultant, NAFIT which happened to be a Jordanian company but affiliated to the World Bank as all its activities were being financed by the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

He observed that within a period of one year, the study was made ready and submitted to the Nigerian Shippers’ Council explaining that the consultant came up with what he codenamed the Lagos Logistics Ring.

According to him,” The Lagos Logistics Ring spans from Apapa to Ijora down to Orile, Mile 2, Tincan Island and back to Apapa. So, you can see that it is a ring. As at the time of the study, within this ring, we have two international seaports that are Apapa and Tincan Island. We have around 27 Tank Farms within the ring and other logistics facilities. You know there are these off dock terminals, they are also scattered within the ring. Take for instance, the SIFAX, the SCOA, Port Express; all of them are within the ring.

“And it was also deduced from the study that on a daily basis, up to 7,000 trucks and tankers traverse the logistics ring but investigations carried out revealed that because we met with the terminal operators, we with NPA, we met with all the Tank Farm operators, on a daily basis, the number of trucks and tankers handled by the two seaports and the 27 Tank Farms are less than 2,500 trucks and tankers. So, the question is, if the daily capacity of the two seaports and the 27 Tank Farms is less than 2,500, then what will the up to 7,000 to 10,000 trucks and tankers be doing within the logistics ring? So, it is now left for you to conclude why we are having incessant gridlock within the ports access road.

“So, to checkmate the problem, he recommended the establishment of an intelligent Traffic Management System. The Traffic Management System is going to be anchored on technology. He recommended that all the port gates be installed with electronic gates and that at the Tank Farms, there will be electronic gates, even at some of the logistics facilities within the ring, there will also be electronic gate. Then there will be a marshalling yard or call it trucks and tankers village so that all the trucks and tankers would be consigned to the facility and it is only those trucks and tankers that have something to do with any of the seaports or Tank Farms that would be allowed access to the logistics ring.

“The consultant earmarked the sum of $40 million to carry out the project and there are lots of advantages attached to such project as contained in the report. He informed us that the project will generate 600 direct employments and 1,000 indirect employments and that within six months, gridlock will disappear. You know that the life in Apapa is already dead; there was an assurance that within the next six months, life will come back to Apapa again. You are aware of the value of assets both housing and other fixed assets in Apapa, there will be improvement, more revenues will come to the truckers, and more revenues will also come to the government.

“In our pragmatic manner, the Shippers’ Council made this presentation to stakeholders including the Honourable Minister of Transportation and at the end of the day, the Minister called a meeting of Shippers’ Council and the Nigerian Ports Authority and it was agreed that Ports Authority should go ahead and implement the project. Rather than implement the project as directed by the Minister, NPA decided to come up with another system. It is left for you to judge whether the system has actually removed the gridlock.

“Yes, it is true that within the logistics ring, you might not see much of traffic but beyond the logistics ring, the traffic is everywhere”.

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