- ABTL, ENL, GDNL affected
The Federal Government took a grim decision yesterday. It approved the demolition of some structures housing terminal operations for the extension of the standard gauge into the Apapa Ports Complex.
The Transport Minister Mr Rotimi Amaechi gave the go-ahead after inspecting the railway modernization Project Addendum II of the Lagos-Ibadan section, with extension of the rail sidings to Lagos Port in Apapa, Lagos.
Notable ports terminals affected include Apapa Bulk Terminal Ltd (ABTL), APMT Terminal Ltd, ENL Consortium Ltd and Greenview Development Nigeria Ltd (GDNL), a private terminal owned by the Dangote Group.
Disclosing this on Thursday in Lagos when he led an on-the-spot inspection of the affected port terminals, Amaechi however urge the project contractor and ports engineers to explore alternatives before going ahead to demolish all affected structures inside the ports terminals.
According to the Minister, who was accompanied on the inspection by the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala Usman, “It is important that we get the rail services right inside the ports to ease the congestion that we are having there, but while we do this, the contractors have been advised to ensure that ports activities are not disrupted while their work is going on.”
He explained that all the five terminals at Apapa ports would be linked by rail line for easy evacuation of cargo.
On possible compensations to affected ports terminals, the Managing Director of the NPA, Hadiza Bala Usman assured that all affected port terminals will be compensated from the dues they pay into the Federal Government coffers.
She said: “Right now, certain warehouses inside the ports will have to be removed. We have some portion of lands inside the ports that will have to be reclaimed by government from the operators. It is important that the rail lines get to the quay side. I think that is more important than what will be demolished for now.
“However, whatever we do, we are going to be mindful of port operations. We will ensure that the quay side is left available for operations while certain sections in the ports are being rehabilitated.
“For port terminal operators that will suffer loses in terms of demolition of warehouses or structures, we are going to ensure that such operators gets compensation. We are going to open discussion with such operators to ensure that any attendant compensation relating to the revenue they pay to us are recognised with the value of what they have lost.
“After today, we are going to have another meeting in two weeks’ time to determine the increase in scope which the project will have, because this visit has expanded the scope of the Lagos-Ibadan rail project. Now we know we are going to cover GDNL and expand it to Eko Support Services (ESS). We are also looking at providing rail sidings for ABTL owned by Flourmills. All this aspect needs to be computed, and the numbers presented to the Minister of Transportation for necessary approval from the Federal Executive Council (FEC).”
On the implication of the massive workload on the quay side of the ports, the NPA MD revealed than an integrity test will be carried out to determine the capacity of the quays.
“We are carrying out an integrity test to determine the capacity of the quays. Upon determining their capacities, we will look at what manner of reinforcements needs to be done to those quays so that they can accommodate the proposed standard gauge rail project.
“It is important to note that not all terminals will be affected, but it is also important that we deploy intermodal means of cargo evacuation at our ports in order to ease congestion issues,” Hadiza Bala Usman added.