The Federal Government has announced the commencement of the reconstruction of Apapa road leading to the port in Lagos.
The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, who announced this at a signing ceremony to flag off work in Lagos, said the construction would be funded by three companies as a cooperate social responsibility project.- Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Dangote and Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, as a cooperate social responsibility project.
The companies are Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Dangote Group and Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc.
“This place used to be Nigeria’s first industrial estate and it was served by a network of rail to move cargo in and out of the ports. But for many decades, we allowed the rail system go into disuse and we instead chose containers, trucks and tankers to ferry cargo that ordinarily should have been carried by rails,” the minister said.
He stated that the nation was dealing with the consequences of the choice it made, noting that Nigeria was the only part of the world where port activities for evacuation of containers and cargo were done by road.
“We’ve finished with the designs, we now have a bill of activities and the cost I believe is N4.34bn; to be funded and paid for by these groups (Flour Mills, Dangote and NPA) working together.
“The construction company we have chosen to use is AG Dangote Construction – reason is that they are going to use cement. So we are going to have a concrete pavement road, not a bituminous tar road,” he added.
Fashola further expressed hope that the road would last long and serve its purpose, considering the type of material that would be used for its construction.
“We hope that that (the material) would give the road a lasting period and endurance to the cargo that it is subjected to at the moment. We hope that in due course when the rail kicks in, the road will then last its 30-year designed life that we planned it for,” he said.
