Council Seeks Master Plan For Apapa Port

The Nigerian Ports Con
sultative Council (NPCC) has  advocated  the use of a master plan with reservation of areas  for the expansion of the Apapa Port to ease the current  traffic .
The Chairman, Chief Kunle Folarin, told newsmen in Lagos that lack of master plan and non- reservation of areas for expansion was largely responsible for the gridlock at the port.
“What we could have got from the beginning is a master plan. There was no master plan for the port 30-40 years ago.
“There would have been reservations for possible expansion of the port, and when you talk about the port, you are not only talking about key aprons or the fenced area that you call the port.
“The port is five kilometres from the port gate; five kilometres from the port gate is a recess corridor of the port.
“The port corridors must have included and be seen in a master plan.’’
Folarin stressed that the original concept had been distorted thereby making it impossible for the much needed expansion that was required.
“There was encroachment for industry, for residential and commercial enterprises. So, how do you expand the port?
“So the port that was receiving a maximum of 33million metric tons of cargo; import and export in the early ‘70s.
“ Suddenly  it rose to 140 to 150 million metric tons for import and export now .
“So, how do you accommodate the traffic, that will bring the export and evacuate the import, while land is inelastic as in economic principle?”
According to him, until spaces  are created for the port, the traffic situation in Apapa may remain the same for a long time.