Apapa Gridlock- Stakeholder exonerates tank farms

A former Minister of Interior and CEO, Integrated Oil and Gas, Capt. Emmanuel Iheanacho has said the continuous traffic gridlock witnessed daily along the Apapa and Tin Can Island ports access road is not caused by Tank Farms owners but rather by containers trucks.
This, he said is as a result of increased numbers of container trucks and government not matching the increase in the volume of business with the needed expansion.
According to him, “whenever I hear that the incessant traffic gridlock is caused by tanks farm or petroleum tankers it baffles me because to be sincere with you how many petroleum tankers can you see on this road, you see that you have more containers trucks than petroleum tankers,” he said.
“I took it upon myself to count the numbers of containers trucks we have as against petroleum carrying tankers on a particular day and I discovered that the ratio is about 80 to 20 percent which shows that we have more container trucks plying the road than petroleum tankers.
“Just like you have seen for yourself, how many petroleum tankers can you count presently? Probably one among 20,” he stated.
Speaking further, he said the lack of investment in road infrastructure is a major factor responsible for the perennial gridlock in Apapa, Lagos.
He noted that the traffic situation on the port access roads to the port is abysmally bad and the ports are currently choked to death.
He further explained that deficit in terms of the roads available and the traffic that goes into and out of the ports are part of reasons why the gridlock has become a thorn in the flesh of businessmen and residents of the vicinity.
As part of measures to ease the congestion, Capt. Iheanacho suggested that as cargoes coming in are more than the available infrastructure, he urged the Federal Government to pull down old and archaic buildings in Apapa to have smooth and efficient port operations.
“It would not be a bad idea if the federal government can look at the possibility of acquiring some of these old buildings, knock them down and develop additional infrastructure by way of truck parks and access roads and the problem would be solved,” he added.