• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Trailer park: FG reassures on month-end delivery as NARTO says no talks on mgt

Trailer park: FG reassures on month-end delivery as NARTO says no talks on mgt

Having achieved what it has de- scribed as “substantial completion”, the Federal Government has reassured road users, port operators, business owners and other stakeholders on the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway that the Trailer Park being constructed on the expressway would be delivered by the end of this month as earlier promised. Godwin Eke, the federal controller of works, South West zone, who gave this reassurance in a telephone chat with BusinessDay, said that much of what needed to be done to make the park functional, had been done, stressing, “we are still hopeful that January ending is realistic”. Eke stated that talks with transport bodies on the management of the park was on-going even as one of the transport associations— the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO)—says the government is yet to communicate to it the processes and modalities for the running of the park.

Read also: Trailer park: All eyes on Buhari as gridlock grounds Apapa, environs

BusinessDay had, in an earlier report, quoted the Federal Government as saying that it was in talks with possible managers of the park, mentioning the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) as possible body that would manage the park for optimum use and efficiency. This disclosure elicited much hope with analysts saying it was the way to go if the over 300 dry cargo trucks capacity park was to be properly maintained and preserved for longer use. NARTO, one of the successful private transport organisations with well established structures across the country, said it was yet to receive information on what model the government would adopt in the management of the park. “Yes we hear that the government intends to concession the park in order for it to be better managed, but we have not been officially contacted, said Aloga Ogbogo, NARTO’s general manager (administration), when contacted on telephone. Ogbogo said NARTO and other stakeholders were as concerned about the daily gridlock within Apapa, and were looking forward to the completion of the park to enable truck drivers move them away from the road, thereby creating access to other road users.

Eke, however, explained that they were discussing with the transport bodies and believed that NARTO was also part of them, adding, “our concern is more on the completion of the park than on the management which can be handled any time”. The trailer park, estimated to take over 300 trucks off the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, is being constructed as an accompaniment to the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the Liverpool end of the expressway which con- tract was awarded to Borini Prono, the Italian construction company. The Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, constructed way back in the 70s, has garnered notoriety as the most difficult expressway to navigate in the whole of Nigeria, following the failure of over 80 percent portion of the expressway and the unwholesome and mindless activities of truck drivers who park indiscriminately, denying other road users access to their offices, shops and homes.