The Minister of State for Transportation, Senator Gbemisola Saraki has reaffirmed that movement of cargoes through standard rail guage would begin at the end of this month.
Senator Saraki disclosed this during inspection tour to the ongoing rail track construction project at Apapa Port in Lagos Southwest Nigeria.
The transport minister said rail transportation system is indispensable to the economic growth of the country.
She state that, “the structure at the right of way to linking the rail track to the seaport would be demolished within the possible shortest time.
“I have mandated the federal ministry of transportation, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to work out modalities on how the impediment on the right of way would be resolved.“
The transport minister is optimistic that with the rail line being operational, the issue of lingering traffic gridlock within the Port corridor would be a thing of the past.
It would be recall that the Ebute meta to Apapa port rail track is an extension of the Lagos- Ibadan standard rail guage which began in March, 2017.
In another development, the Minister reechoed the position of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), for the total reconstruction of Quay walls of the TinCan Island Port Complex which have become weak due to age.
The Minister said, “we cannot build on a weak foundation, it is vital that we get these two very important ports modernized and ready to berth modern vessels. The state of the Ports shows decades of neglect but it’s better late than never.”
The position is very much in harmony with that of the Managing Director Nigerian Ports Authority, Mohammed Bello Koko who had allayed fears of the imminent collapse of the Tin-Can Island Island Port Complex as the Authority is already at conclusive stages.
It will be recall that Bello-Koko had on several interactions drawn attention to the fact that “although the NPA had over the years been undertaking remedial works on the quays, the time has come for a holistic reconstruction and the Authority is working with the Federal Ministry of Transportation on the most prudent funding option.”
Bello Koko said: “We are on the verge of concluding discussions with multilateral funding agencies to fund the reconstruction. The other option is to go to the government to request that the NPA be allowed to use a certain percentage of its revenue which is transferred to the consolidated revenue fund (CRF) on yearly basis to fund the reconstruction. We transfer about N60 billion a year and we can use about 50 percent of that to repair Tin-Can.
Another option is to do hybrid funding where NPA funds part and multilateral agencies fund the rest,” he said.
