President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed concerns over difficulties shippers and stakeholders may experience in evacuating their cargoes out the sprawling new Lekki Deep Seaport in Ibeju-Lekki axis of Lagos.
Concerns have mounted over exist points out the port as it much awaited commencement of operations by September 2022 draws near following the successful delivery of the first set of Super Post Panamax State-of-the-art Ship to Shore (STS) Cranes and ten (10) Rubber Tyred Gantries (RTGs) on the 1st of July and the delivery of the second batch shipment critical to the commencement of operations comprising of two (2) STS Cranes with 115 packages of accessories and five (5) RTGs with 270 packages of accessories on 5th of August.
Minister of Transportation, Engr. Muazu Jaji Sambo, disclosed that the President is worried on the anticipated boom increase in vehicular movement around the Ibeju-Lekki axis occasioned by the boom in commerce and other businesses the port will bring to the area and will not want the current Apapa, Tin-can Island replicated in the new location.
The Minister, who toured the port over the weekend, told the promoters that “the President is concerned about the evacuation of cargoes from this port. He does not want a situation where the Apapa, Tin-Can experience is replicated here. So I think you need to sit down with stakeholders and aggressively see how we can tackle this challenge.”
Expressing misgiving about the roads as a means of transporting the expected influx of cargoes through port, Engr. Sambo said “Honestly I don’t want to rely on the roads, because the roads are not the best means of evacuation of Cargoes. I think the rail remains the best option. What is paramount to me now is what we can do immediately to make sure the rail connection is realised.”
Speaking, Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Mr. Mohammed Bello-Koko, said “it is actually the first time Nigeria will have a port that has shorelines and that means it is going to improve efficiency like anything you will find anyway in the maritime world.”
Bello-Koko added: “We are actually excited also because the automation that they have proposed and which we have sought to be in place will also bring in efficiency and change the way clearing and movement of goods have been going on around the ports.”
The Managing Director of Lekki Deep Seaport, Mr. Du Ruogang, while making a presentation to the Minister, disclosed that the construction works for phase 1 is nearing completion and is currently at about 96% complete.
He said the Lekki Port team together with the Lekki Freeport Terminal (LFT), are working hard to ensure that construction is completed in September 2022, and thereafter, port operations will start before the end of this year 2022.
