Lagos
State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode yesterday kick started the expansion of
the 1000-capacity ABAT Truck Terminal in Orile-Iganmu.
The work on the terminal, which is meant to take trucks parked
indiscriminately on Lagos roads and bridges especially in the Apapa
axis, would be accelerated, Ambode said.
Ambode, who toured some ongoing projects in the state, said the
project was aimed at taking containerised trucks off the roads, to ease
the Apapa gridlock.
He said: “One of the resolutions is that we should have authorised
truck terminal Park and so my visit to this place today is to flag off
the reconstruction of this terminal so that we can accommodate 1000
trucks.
“We would do this in collaboration with the Nigeria Ports Authority
so that the call-up system can work efficiently. The expansion we are
adding to this particular terminal in which we have decided to acquire
the adjoining land, we would use that primarily for non-petroleum trucks
so that we can sectionalise these trucks and allow the call-up system
to work.
“This is just part of the efforts that the state government is making
to ensure this Apapa gridlock and the truck menace becomes a thing of
the past permanently.”
Ambode said the government would also utilise a land in Ijanikin that can take at least 5,000 trucks.
“I have just been briefed that we have an additional land space in
Ijanikin that can accommodate 5000 trucks. We will explore that
possibility immediately; all that we are doing is just to make sure that
there is a permanent solution to this whole idea of trucks destroying
our bridges and roads,” he said.
The governor promised that the terminals would be ready within six to eight weeks.
He noted that the Federal Government’s plan to reconstruct the
Apapa-Oshodi Expressway was on course, with the approval of N72.9billion
for the project.
Speaking on behalf of stakeholders, Association of Maritime Truck
Owners (AMATO), Chairman Chief Remi Ogungbemi described the project as
the beginning of the end of Apapa gridlock.
“Our governor is an action governor and his coming here today has
shown that he is very dynamic and pragmatic. This is what we have been
expecting and for the governor to be here to see things for himself and
flag off the rehabilitation and expansion of this terminal shows that he
is not only talking but matching words with action,” Ogungbemi said.
Earlier, Ambode inpected work on the modern bus terminals in Yaba and Oyingbo, and the failed section of Sari-Iganmu Road.
The contractor, he told residents, would move to the road in two weeks to fix it.
He was also at the bad sections of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway.
Ambode said the Egan-Agric Road would be extended to Ayobo to serve as alternative route to decongest the LASU-Iba Road.
