Business tycoon and
President, Dangote Group of Companies, Aliko Dangote, has assured that the
ongoing Apapa-Wharf Road reconstruction project would be completed on schedule
in June this year, adding that he was impressed that the work was progressing
faster than he anticipated.
The business mogul who made
this disclosure during his visit to the project site recently to see extent of
work done, said, "Now, my impression has changed, AG Dangote is actually
doing an excellent job." He lauded the quality of work being done just as
he commended the project financiers such as Dangote Group, Flour Mills of
Nigeria and the Nigerian Ports Authority.
Dangote explained that
utilities in the right of way of the project had initially slowed down work but
that engineers had evolved a design that solved the problem.
The business mogul said that
people were not aware of the revenue loss caused by the gridlock caused by the
deplorable condition of the road before now, explaining that the cost of the
gridlock to the economy was 20 times the cost of the road project which is
about N4.3 billion.
"NPA is giving about
N1.8 billion; the rest of the money, which is N2.6 billion is going to be given
free of charge both by Flour Mills of Nigeria and Dangote. But I must also
caution that the cost of the road is not N4.3 billion because we got our own
construction company to do it," he said.
The Group Managing Director
of Flour Mills, Mr Paul Gbededo, told newsmen that the gridlock had posed
severe difficulties for both big businesses and small ones in Apapa.
He said that the economy of
Apapa was generating over N20 billion a day and that the gridlock was causing
huge revenue losses.
The Managing Director of AG
Dangote Construction Company Ltd., Mr Ahif Juma, said he had deployed 140 men to
site, to ensure that the project was completed on schedule.
"Some of the men would
work on night shift, seven days a week and we would work 24 hours.
"Now we have about 39 to
40 per cent completed and by end of June, July, we should be able to finish the
work," he said.
Calling on the Federal
Government to withdraw agencies causing the perennial gridlock in Apapa, he
cited the presence of the Nigerian Customs and the Nigerian Navy on the road,
saying Customs men especially, were causing untold hardship to road users in
their bid to collect revenue at check points.
Dangote lamented that check
points mounted by the Customs, Navy and other agencies were causing the
gridlock, making life particularly unbearable for motorists. He said the
presence of Customs men on revenue drive on the road was taking on businesses
and killing the economy of Lagos, Nigeria's economic hub.
"We are going to
formally write to the government to withdraw all these task forces, especially
the Federal Unit of the Customs.
By Kingsley Adegboye
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