The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved N72 billion for the reconstruction of the port access roads running from Apapa port to the old toll gate in Ketu-Berger areas of Lagos.
The Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala-Usman made this known in Lagos, saying the port reconstruction is expected to be completed within 24 months.
The approved project is for Private Public Partnership (PPP), with A.G. Dangote Group which is a tax credit project. And will be for the full reconstruction of the Tin-Can access road all the way to the Tollgate.
President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote had assured that the Apapa Port Wharf concrete road currently under construction by his company, AG Dangote would be delivered on schedule to save the people and businesses the hassles of the traffic gridlock being experienced now.
Dangote Group, a pan African Conglomerate and a major stakeholder at the ports brokered a tripartite arrangement with Flour Mills, a leading Nigerian Food Company and the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA), taking over the road from the Federal Government and undertaking the reconstruction of the road into a lasting concrete pavement as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility.
The road construction in which both NPA and Flour Mills have financial outlay as their contributions while AG Dangote Construction, a subsidiary of the Dangote Group, is undertaking the construction.
The businessman while relying on the reports of the challenges encountered by the site engineers appealed to the authorities to help see to the disturbing issue of multiple checkpoints being mounted by security agencies and which have been creating long queues of trailers and thus affecting the free flow of work on the road project.
Dangote also explained that his company has agreed with the Federal Government to do some palliatives on the Mile 2 expressway to ease the traffic congestion and ensure a free flow of vehicular movement.
Dangote stated that the road was very strategic because Apapa and Tin Can Island ports handle about 80 percent of the cargo that comes into Nigeria and the condition of the road has made nonsense of businesses depending on the ports efficient operations.
Meanwhile, the Apapa Port road which is the artery of the nation’s non-oil economy, has been in a state of disrepair over a long period of time with experts claiming that the nation is losing about ₦20 billion daily owing to the state of dilapidation of the road as imports are trapped in the ports for days as a result of traffic gridlock.
