…to invests more in ICDs
In a bid to decongest the ports so as not to overstretch the existing seaports, the Federal government has concluded plans to invest more in Inland Container Depots (ICD) for prompt evacuation of cargoes out of the ports.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Maritime matters, Mr. Leke Oyewole who made this known in Lagos recently while fielding questions from journalists stated that the creation of ICDs would further augment the operations of the three Deep Sea ports being constructed in various parts of the country.
According to him, we are developing Deep Sea Ports across the country, there is one in Lekki that is ongoing, there is one around Ibaka that is ongoing, one in Badagry that we are working on. These are additional ports that government is putting in place. But beyond that, we are also trying to make sure that there are inland depots where goods can be evacuated to. All these are efforts targeted towards making sure a particular infrastructure is not overstretched”.
Speaking on the state of the ports and their access roads, Oyewole observed that although Nigeria was there yet, the state of the ports had recorded tremendous improvement in all areas in recent times informing that the contracts for the reconstruction of the access roads to the ports had not been abandoned.
He disclosed that at present, efforts are geared towards harmonizing the call-up system to decongest the ports of trucks that access them as well as to ease movement around Apapa adding that government was working tirelessly to ensure that the roads were motorable.
“The situation of the ports as rightly observed has improved significantly in all areas in terms of vessels coming in, clearance of cargo, turnaround time for ships and the dwell time for cargo within the port. We are not there yet, don’t get me wrong, but we are almost there”.
“Even two months ago, the access roads were poorer than they were as we talk today. Government already awarded that contract and the contractor is on the roads. The project was not abandoned, they are still working. The only thing that has made the effect to come properly before the people is that, while we tackle the issue of potholes on the roads, we are also trying to ensure that we involve the call-up systems for trucks that will come into the ports”.
He however hinted that government had taken three steps to ensure that the perennial traffic gridlock being witnessed at Apapa become a thing of the past as well ease movement in and around Apapa.
“Firstly, we are trying to fix all the pipeline from Atlas Cove to Ejigbo, to Mushin, Ibadan, Ilorin and Ore so that we can disperse all these trailers, they can go to all these locations to go and load”.
“Secondly, government already connected the rails to the port and we are now designating Inland Container Depots across the country whereby people from abroad can now say, please I want my goods in Osogbo for example instead of coming to Apapa or people coming to Apapa to clear it. That will further decongest Apapa”.
“The third one is fixing these roads and making sure they are motorable. We are also using the call-up system making sure that only those trucks that are needed in the ports will access the roads at a particular time. We will also have a holding bay for them. If it is only ten trucks that are supposed to go into the ports at a particular time, only those ten will be allowed in”.
“These are things we are doing simultaneously. By the time everyone is up and running, there will be free movement around Apapa”, Oyewole stated.
