Monday, 14 July 2014

Fashola to deploy taskforce, LASTMA on Apapa gridlock

Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos, on Sunday said the state taskforce on environmental and other special offences and the Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) would be deployed to bring sanity to the road traffic situation in Apapa.
This follows the governor’s second visit to Apapa in one week, after reports that there had been no improvement in the traffic situation since his last visit on Sunday July 6. During that visit, the governor had held dialogue with stakeholders including fuel tanker drivers and tank farm owners, advising them to conduct their businesses in a manner that would cause minimum disturbance to others.
 During his visit to Apapa yesterday, Fashola said
the continued haulage of petroleum products by road was taking a toll on the nation’s economy and that there were signs that it would bring Apapa, which is home to the country’s two busiest sea ports to a halt, if nothing was done.
Fashola said rail transportation would be a more efficient means of haulage of petroleum products from the ports.
The governor’s assertion comes as several relocation notices are seen pasted on business premises, leading to increasing property vacancy in Apapa; a direct consequence of relentless gridlocks within the once sought after neighborhood. The congestion at present is being worsened by the terrible state of roads entering and exiting Apapa, especially the Trinity/Coconut/Tincan axis, where some sections of the supposed express road have split into two.
Fashola blamed the situation on the federal government’s failure to properly manage fuel distribution and the ports.
The governor who met officials of the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) and Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO) as well as port managers, said: “This is a port and fuel distribution problem. What I do not understand is why the federal government would allow things to deteriorate this bad.
“ All the major roads here are federal roads. By sheer mismanagement of the ports, the federal government has paralysed the Apapa industrial area.
“In a truly federal system, we should get derivation from the ports. Oil producing states get derivation but we pay the price for fuel haulage and mismanagement of the ports. Ninety percent of fuel in this country is distributed through Apapa, with Lagos paying the price for it,” Fashola said, adding “this cannot continue”.
The governor said the federal government must rise to the challenge of fixing the roads, efficient management of the ports, and better option of fuel distribution in the country, to put a stop to the damage being done to the economy and the Lagos environment.
Aloga Ogbogo, general manager administration, of NARTO, who met with the governor in front of Apapa port, said part of the problem in Apapa was the lack of sufficient cargo handling equipment by the port concessionaires and long documentation processes. According to him, the consequence of this is that it takes longer  to load trucks within the ports and therefore trucks entering the ports must queue up on the roads.
Also speaking, Remi Ogungbemi, president of  maritime trucks owners, said sections of the port which served as parking lots for trucks had been given out to private businesses, following the concession. Ogungbemi however appealed for Fashola’s intervention on a 50 hectare piece of land near Mile 2, which he said if secured, was large enough to accommodate trucks meant for Apapa and Tin can ports.

BusinessDay

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