Apapa gridlock: Failing Borini Prono loses road repair to Julius Berger

The Federal Government yesterday ordered Borini Prono, the contractor handling the rehabilitation of the Liverpool-Tin Can Island-Coconut end of the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, to stop work, directing Julius Berger, the German construction giant, to take over.

This dramatic twist is fuelling optimism that some respite might come the way of motorists, business owners and residents of Apapa, whose environment has been under siege by the activities of trailer and tanker operators.

Caution, however, persists given government’s lethargy in funding issues.       

A close source at the Federal Ministry of Works, who disclosed this to BusinessDay, explained that the decision to ask Borini Prono to discontinue the rehabilitation work on the expressway was reached at a meeting convened by Mike Onolememen, minister of works, in Abuja on Monday.

According to the source, it was discovered that the contractor lacked the capacity to do the work, and as such it was re-assigned to Julius Berger, which he hoped would begin work on that part of the expressway next Monday, July 28.

Sylvester Monye, senior special adviser to the president on Performance Evaluation and Monitoring, also confirmed to BusinessDay that Julius Berger had been directed to take over the rehabilitation of that portion of the expressway and also asked to do a concrete surfacing to ensure that the work lasts for at least 25 years.

The idea, according to Monye, was to see how to create access to the trailer park, while Borini Prono continued work on the park and the bridge.

Monye, who said the work would be done under the National Emergency Scheme, disclosed further that to give fillip to the emergency repair work, he, along with Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, minister of finance, and Mike Onolememen, works minister, would be in Lagos next Thursday for an on-the-spot assessment of the situation, with a view to finding a permanent solution to the Apapa nightmare.

He assured that he was in constant touch with various stakeholders who committed to finding solution to the gridlock at a stakeholders’ meeting recently, pointing out, however, that there was no perfect compliance yet to the agreement reached at the meeting.     

Franco Borini, an engineer at Borini Prono, also confirmed to BusinessDay in a telephone chat that they had been asked to stop the rehabilitation work on the expressway, disclosing that they got a letter from the ministry yesterday (Wednesday) to discontinue work.

Borini, who did not give any reason for the order, said, however, that they were still to continue work on the trailer park, for which the contract was awarded to the company about four years ago. He added that by the terms of the contract, the delivery date for the trailer park and the bridge component was January 2015.

When BusinessDay visited the trailer park construction site, Wednesday, activities were skeletal, with most of their construction equipment idle and workers sitting in groups with cheerless expressions.

One of the workers who enthusiastically welcomed this reporter to the site stated that their management recalled them from the Tin Can Island first and second gates, where they were doing rehabilitation work on the expressway, stressing they were not given any reason for the marching order.

Recently, a stakeholders’ meeting chaired by Monye was held with most of the stakeholders in attendance, including the Lagos State government which was represented by Kayode Opeifa, the state commissioner for transportation.

Others were the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC), Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD), National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), Federal Ministry of Works (FMW), Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRC), Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC) and Apapa residents, among others.

Part of the measures agreed upon was that Borini Prono, with the support and supervision of the Federal Ministry of Works, should create access into the trailer park, which has capacity to take about 320 trailers off the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, and that in order to enable the contractor carry out the work, NUPENG, NARTO and others should take their tankers and trucks off the expressway.

Meanwhile, another stakeholders’ meeting was held yesterday as the search for a solution to the Apapa logjam continues. Present at the meeting which was chaired by Ovenseri Emmanuel, commander of the Nigerian Navy (NNS Beecroft), Apapa, were AMATO, NURTW, LASTMA, RTEAN, representatives of the Federal Ministry of Works, the police and the NPA.

Babatunde Edu, general manager, LASTMA, said at the meeting that the agency would be working closely with Julius Berger to ensure free flow of traffic as construction work begins. LASTMA and the Nigeria Police have been mandated to plan, monitor and enforce a rerouting arrangement that will ensure that only trucks that have businesses to do within Apapa at a particular time are allowed into the port community.

At the meeting held at the NNS Beecroft office, the stakeholders also mandated the NPA, as the landlord to the ports operators, to press it on the concessionaires to increase their cargo handling equipment in order to fast-track operations and thereby reduce the number of trucks queuing up along the road en route the port complex.

It was also agreed that a committee be set up to go round and inspect the various truck holding bays operated by ports and tank farm owners and report back in two weeks, on whether they are large enough to accommodate trucks in the operations of such companies.

CHUKA UROKO & JOSHUA BASSEY