By Oluwayemi Davidson, Warri
Hope for a massive decongestion of the Lagos Ports was rekindled on Thursday as the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) gave a nod to partnering the private sector in promoting maritime businesses in the country.
Specifically, NIWA plans to partner the ongoing rehabilitation initiative at the moribund Burutu Port in Delta State being facilitated by a private outfit, Akewa-Colma Terminal Limited “to serve as a Transshipment of cargoes to hinterlands like Onitsha, Lokoja, Baro among others”.
Giving the assurance while inspecting the ongoing reactivation work at the Burutu Port in Delta, the Managing Director of NIWA, Dr. George Moghalu said that apart from easing the pressure on our roads, “it would also help to decongest the Lagos ports”.
“It is not about building ports but making them active to be able to decongest Lagos”, he stated.
Moghalu spoke further, “Burutu port is very strategic. Everyone is concerned about the congestion in Lagos. We are also concerned about how to move cargoes to hinterlands.
“We are ready to partner private sector players by creating the enabling environment, ease the regulations and a fair level playing field to help them grow their busineses.
“We intend to encourage this port to be a Transhipment port so that vessels can move from Lagos to Burutu then from Burutu they can move by badges to the various hinterlands.
“Burutu port is very strategic, everyone is concerned about the congestion in Lagos. We are also concerned about how to move cargoes to hinterlands
“Our roads are not designed for the loads it is carrying, they are not designed to carry the weight they are carrying.
“In a civilised democracy and advanced countries, bulk cargoes are most usually moved by air or water and ours cannot be different.
“We have over 10,000 km waterways, what is required for us to do is to make our channels navigable all year round and put them into active use for the good of our people”.
The NIWA boss hailed the management team of Akewa-Colmar Terminal for the good work stressing that the concern of the Federal Government was to make the port functional in line with its diversification policies.
Also speaking on the occasion, the Senior Special Assistant to Delta Government, Mr Ebisinne-Kofee Amasuono, expressed commitment of the state government to the project saying that “Government is ready to give assistance for its seamless operation by way of providing security and enabling environment”.
The Chairman of Akewa-Colmar Terminal, Dr. Kenneth Duoye appreciated NIWA for considering the Burutu Port as Transshipment hub for container transportation from Lagos/Onne to Onitsha.
He said, “This will be one of the greatest achievement of this management team as the Lagos congestion has become a major challenge to the Federal Government, Importers, Exporters and Shippers.
“We believe that by bringing all stakeholders into this arrangement, this congestion problem will soon be a thing of the past”.
The Area Manager, Warri Office of NIWA, Mr Mohammed Dangana had earlier explained that NIWA, Warri office was able to scale up its revenue generation by 400 per cent in 2020.
He, however, listed: logistics; security; environment, furniture among others as some of the immediate challenges facing the office.