The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has entered into partnership with the Lagos State Government to deploy the truck call-up system also known as “eto ca up” along the Lekki-Epe to improve the ease of doing business at the nation’s first deep seaport.
The truck call-up system is to manage the traffic that is already building up in the Lekki port corridor.
The decision to deploy the truck call-up system was reached at a meeting attended by the representatives of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Lagos State Government, Lekki Free Zone Development Company, Lekki Deep Seaport, Pinnacle Oil and Gas and Dangote Refinery, among others.
Speaking at a stakeholders meeting held at Lekki Free Zone Development, Lagos State Commissioner for Transport, Seun Osiyemi, said the government cannot wait to start the management of the traffic situation along that axis following the indiscriminate parking by both container trucks and tankers on both sides of the road.
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Osiyemi said the government is considering the use of the waterways to evacuate bulk, dry and liquid cargo from the port.
“That is the only way we can get to the promised land, if we wait for government, what happens is that the longer we wait the more moribund this place becomes and then the revenue you are trying to get will not come.
“You see, sometimes you throw out money to make money. The prognosis is that this place will expand and blow out,” Osiyemi said.
Also speaking, the Deputy Managing Director of Lekki Free Zone Development Company, Bolatito Ajibode, said the zone was the only place left in that axis for investors to acquire land as over 3,000 hectares of land are available for use in the area.
The Managing Director of Call Up Technology, Tim Koleolu, said operators of terminals with truck parks within the red zone from Eleko junction will be unbundled on the call-up system for ease of administration and proper traffic management.
He said necessary hardware has been deployed at the Lekki Deep Seaport, Lekki Free Trade Zone and all the approved parks that are ready for operations.
