The Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, on Wednesday, July 8, met with tank farm owners in Apapa, on how to resolve the perennial traffic gridlock in the area.
Ambode assured that the state government has the capacity to make stakeholders adhere to traffic rules.
He said his government will again look at the truck park in Orile, in order to expand it to have the capacity to accommodate at least 1000 trucks.
The governor spoke at an interactive session, with stakeholders in the petroleum storage industry in attendance. He said the state government was ready to embark on a partnership project with tank farm owners.
He said: “If the tankers must come in every day into Lagos, we must have a location for them but not on the bridge. As immediate solution, I will continue to use my task force to clean up the bridge. And I will also immediately look at the truck park at Orile and expand its capacity from 350 to 1000 trucks.
“So for us to be able to accommodate you, you must come to the round table. You cannot fold your arms and say that it does not concern you. I am giving up the security and safety of Lagosians by accommodating 57 tank farms and giving up the safety and peace of Lagosians by allowing over 1000 trucks to enter Lagos every day.
“It is very clear that tank farm owners do not want to take responsibility for what is happening on the Apapa gridlock. It is very clear also that if we are to start to think in the manner in which these presentations have been made we would have to get everybody off the bridge. There should be no tanker driver that should enter Lagos except he is cleared by the tank farm owners or maybe we find a ticketing system to control them.”
“We have emphasised that the joint task force that we set up to clean up the bridge must continue and make sure that there is easy motorable access. We are not in a position to identify who is an intruder on the bridge. Our joint task force will continue and make sure that the truck and tankers do not constitute a nuisance to road users on the road.
“We want to take off the gridlock in Apapa. That is what I want to hear. How do we do it?. We can decide that no truck enters Lagos. We will do task force for 24 hours. No truck comes into your depot, but we would not shift the logjam to the Ibadan Express Road, because the point here is that some of them do not even have any reason to be here. But they used to be on that axis before.
“We have also appealed to the Presidency to ensure that the contractor goes back to site. We reiterate that the Federal Government should ensure that the bridge is completed because that trailer bridge can take 500 trailers and is very close to the Tin Can Port and that allows us to take all the trailers to their trailer park.”
The peak of the meeting was that all the attendees agreed to reconvene every two weeks, with more stakeholders, in order to find a lasting solution to the problem of the Apapa gridlock.
Meanwhile, Gov Ambode has ordered the Task Force on Environmental Sanitation and Other Special Offences to enforce the law prohibiting street trading and begging.
Ambode assured that the state government has the capacity to make stakeholders adhere to traffic rules.
He said his government will again look at the truck park in Orile, in order to expand it to have the capacity to accommodate at least 1000 trucks.
The governor spoke at an interactive session, with stakeholders in the petroleum storage industry in attendance. He said the state government was ready to embark on a partnership project with tank farm owners.
He said: “If the tankers must come in every day into Lagos, we must have a location for them but not on the bridge. As immediate solution, I will continue to use my task force to clean up the bridge. And I will also immediately look at the truck park at Orile and expand its capacity from 350 to 1000 trucks.
“So for us to be able to accommodate you, you must come to the round table. You cannot fold your arms and say that it does not concern you. I am giving up the security and safety of Lagosians by accommodating 57 tank farms and giving up the safety and peace of Lagosians by allowing over 1000 trucks to enter Lagos every day.
“It is very clear that tank farm owners do not want to take responsibility for what is happening on the Apapa gridlock. It is very clear also that if we are to start to think in the manner in which these presentations have been made we would have to get everybody off the bridge. There should be no tanker driver that should enter Lagos except he is cleared by the tank farm owners or maybe we find a ticketing system to control them.”
“We have emphasised that the joint task force that we set up to clean up the bridge must continue and make sure that there is easy motorable access. We are not in a position to identify who is an intruder on the bridge. Our joint task force will continue and make sure that the truck and tankers do not constitute a nuisance to road users on the road.
“We want to take off the gridlock in Apapa. That is what I want to hear. How do we do it?. We can decide that no truck enters Lagos. We will do task force for 24 hours. No truck comes into your depot, but we would not shift the logjam to the Ibadan Express Road, because the point here is that some of them do not even have any reason to be here. But they used to be on that axis before.
“We have also appealed to the Presidency to ensure that the contractor goes back to site. We reiterate that the Federal Government should ensure that the bridge is completed because that trailer bridge can take 500 trailers and is very close to the Tin Can Port and that allows us to take all the trailers to their trailer park.”
The peak of the meeting was that all the attendees agreed to reconvene every two weeks, with more stakeholders, in order to find a lasting solution to the problem of the Apapa gridlock.
Meanwhile, Gov Ambode has ordered the Task Force on Environmental Sanitation and Other Special Offences to enforce the law prohibiting street trading and begging.
