By Idu Jude Lagos
Federal Government of Nigeria, Saturday says it is ready to commission the Lagos / Ibadan rail line for commercial use but has to tarry due to encumbrances causing delay in speeding up to meet January deadline.
The Minister of Transportation, Hon. Chibuike Amaechi, announced this while charging APM Terminals to cooperate with China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) handling the Ebute Metta—Apapa seaports railway extension, to ensure its completion at the agreed date.
Amaechi, who was at the APM Terminal control room, where he and other stakeholders, including the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) Managing Director Hadiza Bala Usman, the NRC Board of Directors Chairman, Engr. Al-Hassan Musa, the NRC Managing Director, Engr. Fidet Okhiria, the contractor and the TEAM engineers, had a brief meeting to discuss issues relating to the delays in getting the rail into Apapa.
The Minister noted that the January date for the commissioning of Apapa extension alongside that of Lagos-Ibadan remains sacrosanct, hence the appeal for cooperation from all stakeholders.
According to him, “We went to APM to tell them to increase the pace of work, we are determined to commission in January. If they think we will commission Ebute Metta to Ibadan, we will not do that, we will commission the entire projects.
I agree there are two contracts, first from Ebute Metta to Ibadan and the second one which we awarded later is Ebute Metta to Apapa to the Seaport, to decongest the Apapa seaport and reduce gridlock and to do that, we have to get cargoes on the track.
“Transporting that way, we will reduce the gridlock in Lagos. We are meeting tomorrow to ensure that they increase their speed so that we can commission in January”, he said.
He noted that President Muhammadu Buhari has been informed of the commissioning in January, adding that he is working towards that time and must achieve it.
The Minister further reiterated that his objective in January is to begin movement of cargo from Lagos to Ibadan, so as to drastically reduce the Lagos gridlock.
“We are putting pressure on them to finish in January, just some few works left to be done in literally all the stations. So, we are going to put that pressure on them to put manpower in place to complete the basic assignments”, he noted.
For her part, the NPA Managing Director, Hadiza Bala Usman, said the construction work into all terminals must go unhindered by any operator, adding that the Minister was there to enforce the presidential directive to get the rail tracks into Apapa.
It is you that must build your operation around the construction work plan to ensure that your operations are not hindered and hampered by the construction of the standard gauge. The construction is of top priority to the government and all operators must ensure that we cooperate to get it done,” she remarked.
She urged APM Terminal to partner with the contractor to ensure that the standard gauge project goes off the ground in Apapa
Earlier, the Country Manager of APM Terminal, Klaus Laursen, who explained the workings of the monitoring station which gives real time information on what is happening in all sections of the terminal, said that the essence is to control and monitor cargoes coming in and going out of the terminal.
According to him, they decided to introduce one in Nigeria as it is the trend in Shanghai and other global towns where similar operations take place.
While acknowledging the fact that the terminal is not where it is supposed to be, Laursen, said they were putting the right facilities in place to encourage productivity.
