Apapa: Contractor begins rehabilitation work

The reconstruction of Ijora-Wharf road which leads to Apapa, where two of the nation’s busiest seaports are located, has commenced after all.

This, coming nearly one month after the collapsed road was handed over to the trio of Dangote Group, Flour Mills and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) by the Babatunde Fashola, Minister of Works, Power and Housing, on behalf of the Federal Government, on Sunday, June 18, 2017.

The three companies are embarking on the project as part of the corporate social responsibility at the cost of N4.3 billion.

Checks on Monday showed that the contractor, AG Dangote, has mobilised materials, equipment and machinery to site. Workers engaged by the contractor, spotting reflective jackets and helmets with the company’s name and logo were seen excavating blocked drainages from Airways Bus Stop, towards Barracks.

It was observed that the Ijora-bound lane of the dual carriageway, stretching about 100 kilometres from Airways Bus Stop, towards Area ‘B’ Police Command, had been cordoned off, and traffic diverted only to the Apapa-bound lane. As expected, the development has further impacted traffic flow on that axis, but traffic wardens from nearby Apapa Police Divisional Headquarters were busy managing the situation.

It was agreed during a stakeholders’ meeting, last week, in the office of the Federal Controller of Works (southwest), at the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS), Lagos, that the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) would come up with a traffic management plan that will ensure that Apapa is not lockdown during the construction work.

By yesterday, however, LASTMA was yet to unveil its traffic management strategies for work and possible routes motorists entering and exiting Apapa will ply. Lawal Musa, LASTMA’s general manager did not take his calls, or respond to a text message sent to his cell phone.

Nevertheless, an informed source told BusinessDay that the stakeholders would be meeting again this week, to further discussion on all issues surrounding the work, including assessing the level of compliance of truck owners with an earlier directive to remove their trucks from the roads, to allow for the smooth execution of the protect.

Stakeholders, including Tokunbo Korodo, Lagos zonal chairman of the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), and Remi Ogungbemi, chairman, Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMARTO) have at various times, expressed concern about the traffic challenge the work would throw up.

Officials of AG Dangote would not speak when BusinessDay visited their construction yard, opposite Area ‘B’ Police Command, but one of the site engineers, confirmed that the work has commenced, with the excavating of the collapsed drainage.

Apapa, host community to Nigeria’s premier ports- Apapa and Tincan ports, had for years been left unattended to, resulting in the collapse of its infrastructure and degraded environments. The Federal Government makes over N1 billion from the ports annually, but fails to invest part of the proceeds in upgrading infrastructure in Apapa.

In the last five years, living and working in Apapa has been a frustrating experience, as the two major entries; Ijora-Wharf route and Apapa-Coconut-Tincan axis remain in their worst state, with petroleum tankers and dry cargo trucks are parked indiscriminately on the roads and bridges, leading to untold hardship for other road users, residents and businesses operating from Apapa.

 

JOSHUA BASSEY