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NPA responsible for poor port access roads – NCMDLCA

By BusinessNews Staff on July 30, 2014

The President, National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents, Mr. Lucky Amiwero, has blamed the Nigeria Ports Authority for failing to develop access roads to the ports in Lagos State.

In a telephone interview with our correspondent on Monday, Amiwero said the NPA was empowered by its Act to regulate traffic within the ports and the port access roads.

As a result of the damaged port access roads, the traffic situation in and around Apapa had deteriorated in the last one month, forcing commuters to spend as much as five hours in traffic to get to or leave the area.

Amiwero said, “Our law empowers the NPA to maintain the port access roads; Section 34A of the NPA Act says they are to regulate traffic within the ports and port access roads. The problem of traffic in Apapa is on the port access roads; so, the NPA has not played its role.

“It collects about four per cent of the seven per cent of the Port Development Levy; that money should be used to develop the port access roads. Any issue concerning the ports, the NPA has 90 per cent role to play.”

He added, “It is the duty of the Ministry of Transport and the NPA to maintain and control traffic into the ports. The Nigerian ports are under the national grid and so is the NPA. If there is anything around the port environment that will cause traffic, it is the duty of the NPA to take care of the problem.

“People have lost confidence in the port system; it should be overhauled. There are lots of administrative and infrastructural problems that must be solved.”

The NPA had last month said that some of the revenue being generated by it was being used on capital intensive projects. Its reaction was sequel to publications about its alleged non-remittance of N713bn into the Federation Account.

The NPA said in a statement signed by the Assistant General Manager, Public Affairs, Mr. Musa Iliya, “The NPA was established by the NPA Act, Cap N126 LFN, 2004. It has the power to construct, equip, operate and provide seaport services to the general public.

“The authority was given financial autonomy under sections 13-14 of the Ports Act to apply its revenue towards carrying out the operations, development of ports, purchasing of equipment before remitting the surplus to government.

“It has also embarked on massive capital intensive projects in the areas of improved navigational safety, port infrastructure and information technology. The amount spent on these projects to get the system going is colossal and deserves timely interventions as desired by the financial autonomy accorded to the authority in the existing law.”

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, had during recent visits to Apapa, criticised the Federal Government and its agencies for abdicating their responsibility, leading to the deterioration of the roads.

In return, the NPA had said that the massive increase in the volume of cargo far outweighed the capacity of the road at inception by over 200 per cent.

[Punch]

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