Oshodi-Apapa road gridlock: Lagos suspends fresh tank farms’ approval

The Lagos State Government has announced the suspension of approval of fresh tank farms in Apapa, as part of its renewed effort to end the recurring gridlock along the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway caused by containerised trucks and tankers.

READ ALSO: Oshodi-Apapa main carriageway still blocked

The government also promised to accelerate work on the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Trailer Park in Orile to ensure its completion within one month.

These and others were resolutions taken yesterday, after a closed door meeting with stakeholders in the maritime and transport sectors, including Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Shippers Council, tank farm owners, Department of Petroleum Resources, security agencies and clearing and forwarding agents, held at the Lagos House, in Alausa, Ikeja, and chaired by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode.

Commissioner for Transportation, Mr. Ladi Lawanson, who briefed Government House correspondents on the resolutions reached after the meeting, which lasted over three hours, said all stakeholders had resolved to work together to bring back sanity on the Apapa axis. He said the government will, therefore, not hesitate to sanction recalcitrant operators who flout the resolutions going forward.

Lawanson, who spoke in the presence of the Managing Director of NPA, Mrs. Hadiza Bala-Usman, Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Tunji Bello and other stakeholders, said a Security Task Force has been constituted by the Federal Government and the Lagos State Government.

He also said to cushion the difficulty experienced by motorists in the area, the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing will soon commence palliative measures on bad portions on access roads.

“The Department of Petroleum Resource (DPR) is to ensure that Tank Farm owners comply with holding bay requirements, while trailers not called upon and found trampling will be impounded and sanctioned in Lagos.

“With immediate effect, Lagos State Government suspends the approval of tank farms and the government is going to accelerate the completion of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Trailer Park and it should be ready within a month,” Lawanson said.

The state government also directed that all truck and tanker owners must be duly registered and well regulated by their unions, adding that the unions would be held accountable for their adherence to extant rules and regulations.

“The Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), in collaboration with the Lagos State government will, going forward, licence trailer parks, whereby only trucks housed in those designated parks will be granted access. Furthermore, tank farms without adequate loading bays within the next 30 days will be sanctioned.

“These resolutions were arrived at and agreed by all parties, and all parties have resolved to jointly implement the resolutions, and the effects will be seen by Nigerians very shortly,” the commissioner said.

The state government had last week set up a Joint Task Force involving security agencies and stakeholders in the maritime sector to remove all containerised trucks and tankers parked along the Apapa axis.