The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) is partnering with the Lagos State government to develop the Ahmed Bola Tinubu trailer park at Orile-Igamu.
The move is to bring to an end the gridlock motorists have been experiencing along the two major access roads to the ports, the Wharf road, Apapa, and the Mile 2 Tin-Can port expressway.
The management of the NPA had in 2018 cancelled the agreement it had with Nigeria’s major terminal operator, A. P. Moller Terminal, in Apapa, Lagos, concerning the Lilypond Container Terminal, Ijora.
It said by the time the ultra-modern trailer park at Orile would be completed, it would reduce the volume of traffic along the seaport corridor.
The NPA Managing Director, Ms Hadiza Bala Usman, who disclosed this recently at the 14th edition of the Annual Business Law conference, said the Authority had decided to convert the container terminal to a truck park.
Usman stated, “We at the Nigerian Ports have given up Lilypond. APMT was the operator and we have cancelled that arrangement to make it a transit truck park. We are now in an advanced stage of discussing with the Lagos State government to make available a larger trailer park. The Ahmed Bola Tinubu trailer park in Orile will be so designated and trailer parks that transact one or two trailers will not be allowed to access the port. Recognising that other mushroom truck parks will also want to be designated, we have our own criteria that you must meet for you to be licensed.
“Even for land use issues, why should you have a truck park inside the Apapa area? I think Lagos State should look at the land use issues attributable to trailer parks. Why should there be a truck park in Apapa that is already congested?
“We now have a truck park in Ogun State. So those that are coming out of Lagos can stay in Ogun State until you are called up. When you are called up you will now move to Lilypond, then you get into the port.
“We also have to recognize that within the Apapa corridors, we have the tank farms. There are petroleum products evacuation that are done in that area and so you also have attendant congestion arising from that area.”
The NPA boss suggested the use of intermodal transport system to evacuate cargoes in and out of the ports with a view to de-congesting the roads and ultimately de-congesting the ports.
“I think the larger picture is the need for us to recognize the use of intermodal transportation system. You can’t have 90 per cent of your cargo being pushed through the road; the road will get congested and will invariably collapse. We must strengthen the utilisation of inland water ways. We must have our rails system concluded. If not for the COVID, we would have concluded our rail connectivity .
