NAN-HE-24
Port
By Uchenna Eletuo
Lagos, Oct. 26, 2017 (NAN) A former Minister of Interior, Emmanuel Iheanacho, said on Thursday that lack of infrastructure development contributed to the perennial gridlock on port access roads.
Iheanacho, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Integrated Oil and Gas Ltd., told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that aggressive investments in road expansion would save the situation.
Iheanacho explained that “the deficit in terms of available roads and the traffic that go into and out of the ports are part of the reasons why the gridlock has become a thorn in the flesh of business men and residents of the vicinity.’’
He said that the traffic situation on the port access roads was bad, adding that the ports were presently choked.
The mariner suggested that as cargoes were coming in more than the available infrastructure, government also needed to pull down old buildings in Apapa to have smooth and efficient port operations.
“It would not be a bad idea if the Federal Government can look at the possibility of acquiring some of these old buildings, knock them down and develop additional infrastructure by way of truck parks and access roads and the problem will be solved,’’ he said.
He debunked claims that tank farms operating on the port roads and tanker trucks were responsible for the gridlock.
According to him, the constant gridlock experienced along the port access roads is caused by container trucks.
“It is as a result of the increase in the number of container trucks and government’s inability to match the increase in the volume of business with the needed road expansion.
“Whenever I hear that the incessant traffic gridlock is caused by either tank farms or petroleum tankers, it baffles me, because to be sincere with you how many petroleum tankers can you see on this road.
“You see that you have more container trucks than petroleum tankers.
“I decided to count the number of container trucks we have against petroleum tankers on a particular day and I discovered that the ratio is about 80 to 20 per cent.
“This shows that we have more container trucks plying the road than petroleum tankers.
“Just like you have seen for yourself, how many petroleum tankers can you count presently? Probably one among 20,’’ he said. (NAN)
EUC/AJA/IA
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(Edited by Adeleye Ajayi/Idris Abdulrahman)
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