Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
The federal government, through the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), has announced plans to invest $1.1 billion to fully rehabilitate decaying port infrastructure at TinCan, Apapa, Rivers, Delta, Calabar, and Onne ports as part of efforts to improve the efficiency of the nation’s existing ports.
Out of the estimated 47,000 kilometres of coastline in Africa, Nigeria makes up about 853 kilometres, creating the perfect opportunity to get access to its much-needed revenue.
This coastline and a 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone make up Nigeria’s coastline in the Gulf of Guinea. The coastline equals a maritime area of 290 square kilometres or almost one-third of the nation’s land area of 924 square kilometres.
However, some of the country’s ports were built a century ago and haven’t been rebuilt since then, making it difficult for the country to fully tap the potential present in the infrastructure. Due to the decaying quay walls, the terminal operators are unable to deploy modern cargo handling equipment such as ship-to-shore cranes.
According to the NPA, this often results in high turnaround times of vessels and has necessitated the President Bola Tinubu administration to prioritise the rehabilitation of these key ports.
The rehabilitation will include Tin-Can Island Port Complex (TCIPC) where there will be the reconstruction of a 2,563m Quay Wall and Pavement, including other works, Lagos Port Complex (Apapa Quays) which will involve the reconstruction of 2,020m Quay wall to replace the old gravity wall (Berths 4-14) and the rehabilitation of collapsed 8.6 km Escravos Breakwaters in Warri, Delta State.
Others include the reconstruction of the 200m Quay Wall in FLT 2, Onne Port, the reconstruction of the 80m sheet pile wall structure in Warri Old Port (Terminal C) as well as the reconstruction of the 280m quay structure located in Warri Old Port (Terminal A).
In Cross River State, there will be the rehabilitation of the Calabar Dockyard, Mciver Jetty, and the Millero Jetty which fall under the Calabar Port Jetty Reconstruction project.
NPA noted that, “When this is completed, the existing ports will be operational at full capacity and with improved efficiency, thereby reducing the TAT of vessels and cargo dwell times.”
