NAN-H-55
Port
By Uche Eletuo
Lagos, Dec. 7, 2016 (NAN) Some ports users on Friday tasked the Lagos State Government to deploy a bit of the proceeds from the Wharf Landing Fees to fix the bad ports access roads.
The port users, in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Wednesday, said that, the bad condition of the roads was hampering trade at the ports.
“The bad roads are making it difficult for investors to come and put their money in the ports.
The Managing Director, Kizito Services Ltd., Mr Tony Ezumu said.“It is scaring away shippers from the ports, who prefer to berth their cargoes in neighbouring ports of Lome and the rest.
He said that Lagos State, as the beneficiary of the fee and the host, ought to fix the roads to enable users do their business without hassles.
The President, Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMARTO), Chief Remi Ogungbemi, said that as an association, his members were the worst hit by the worn-out roads.
“On daily basis, we have to contend with the gullies on the roads with its attendant road mishaps, causing damages on trucks and cargoes.
“The annoying thing is that at the onset, the law stipulates that proceeds from the fee will be deployed to build the roads but the roads has remained unattended to since then,’’ Ogungbemi said.
According to him, the Mile 2 to Tin-Can axis is now a write-off with vehicles that ventured to load or drop cargoes through that axis remaining on queue for days.
He appealed to the state government to make good their promises to the ports users.
Ogungbemi said that the continued neglect of the roads by the state might resulted into boycott and industrial disharmony, which might not augur well for the polity.
Mr Kayode Farinto, Spokesman of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), advised that the state government should borrow from other states that had rehabilitated roads owned by the Federal government.
He said that the ongoing discrepancy between states and federal on infrastructure development was no longer tenable in the face of anguish faced by users for official neglect.
“We are praying for the roads to be repaired. Therefore, is our right to call for the repairof the roads and the state has an obligation to heed to the calls,’’ Farinto said. (NAN)
EUC/AJA
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(Edited by Adeleye Ajayi)