NPA partners Dangote, Flour Mills to raise N4.5b to reconstruct Apapa Port roads

The MD of Nigerian Ports Authority, Hadiza Bala Usman has taken up the gauntlet once again. This time around, she is driving the NPA into a pact with the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing to embark on the reconstruction of the access road into the ports at Apapa-Wharf in Lagos.

The road which has been in a deplorable state for over a decade has recorded a high number of avoidable accidents due to the caliber of heavy duty trucks laden with loaded containers that ply the route.

Outcry from pedestrians and motorists of theApapa-Wharf area of Lagos has been able to achieve nothing as the road remained neglected until this moment.

The Managing Director of NPA, Hadiza Usman, told a stakeholders’ meeting in Lagoson Mondaythat NPA would provide N1.8 billion while Dangote Group and Flour Mills would provide N2.5 billion.Mrs Bala Usman was in Apapa today to engage with Freight Forwarders & Truck Owners on the progress made on the repairs of ports access roads.

The Managing Director has inspected the access roads in Apapa ports area.

Mrs Bala Usman said; “The roads are under the purview of the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing but due to their priority tous, we’ve agreed to jointly fund the reconstruction”.

“We have been in several meetings with the ministry and we have come to a conclusion that the ministry and the NPA will jointly fund the construction of the access roads despite the fact that the roads are not under NPA’s purview”, she said.

“The work will kickstart in the next one monthwith the full reconstruction of Wharf Rd. It’ll be jointly funded by Dangote & Flour Mills of Nigeria. 

I feel concerned about the deplorablestate of these roads and I communicated at ameeting with the minister that we are willing to fund these roads irrespective of which agency of government is doing it,” she said.

“Effort is being made to get trucks off the roads by taking over the construction of holding bay from the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing through PPP arrangement.” she concluded.