ABUJA – Mr Joseph Edmond, a port operator, has identified poor access road and electricity as major challenges affecting operations in the ports.
Edmond said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja. [pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
He said that security was also another major challenge to the system.
“There are challenges and these challenges have to do with access road to the port, electricity supply and security.
“And there are other issues that have to do with ensuring that all contracting parties in the concessions[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″] agreement fulfilled their obligations,” he said.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”8″]
According to him, most of the concessions done under Public Private Partnership have been helpful in [pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]improving business in the ports.
He said most operators had invested heavily on equipment and facilities in the Nigerian ports.
These, he said, had brought about efficiency in the system, adding that it facilitated easy clearance of goods at the ports.
A source at the Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission (ICRC), however, said the commission observed some of the challenges during its inspection at the ports.
It commended the operators for their commitment in keeping to the terms and conditions of some of the concessions at the ports.
He said that though there were challenges of poor electricity, access road among others, the authorities were working hard to ensure that they were fixed.
He said the ICRC team observed that while the operators had tried to keep to the obligations of the concessions, the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) had yet to meet up with some of its own.
“Under the concession agreement, the port operators are expected to meet its obligations; the NPA is also expected to meets it’s obligations.
“But what we observed is that while the operators are investing and making sure that obligations go on unhindered, the NPA, even though there are challenges on their side, have not been able to meet some of the obligations.
“We also observed that some of the challenges like electricity supply, the operators feel that it is the responsibility of NPA to provide electricity supply.
“To us and NPA, we believe that the issue of power is beyond their control.
“You can’t give what you can’t control,” he said.
According to him, It is the responsibility of the distribution companies to supply electricity.
He added that NPA was doing a lot to make sure that there was power supply.
“In terms of access road, we understand that NPA is doing a lot on construction; there are road constructions going on at the ports.
“And by the time these are fully executed, there would be ease of vehicular movements,” NAN was told.
On the issue of security, it was learnt that government was working to ensure adequate security at the ports.
He appeal to all stakeholders to be patient, adding that the most important thing was that the problems had been identified and efforts were being made to address them. (NAN)
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