Minister charges APM terminals, contractors to cooperate for the prompt delivery of Apapa rail line

By Odimmegwa Johnpeter/Abuja

The Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has charged APM Terminals to allow China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) the Contractor handling the Ebuta Meta – Apapa seaports railway extension access to ensure its completion by January, 2021.

Amaechi who was speaking during an inspection of the terminal, said the January date for the commissioning of Apapa Extention 2 railway alongside that of Lagos-Ibadan remains sacrosanct, hence the appeal for cooperation from all stakeholders.

“We have already told the President, that we are commissioning in January. Now, I am working towards that time. We must achieve that time”, he said.

The Minister further said, “the moment we begin movement of cargo from Lagos to Ibadan, then the Lagos gridlock will reduce drastically and that’s my objective in January”.

Earlier, the Country Manager of APM Terminal, Klaus Laursen, showed the Minister the monitoring station which gives real time information on what is happening in all sections of the terminal, saying ” the essence is to have it here to control and monitor cargoes coming in and going out of the terminal.”

According to him, they decided to introduce one in Nigeria as it is the trend in Shanghai and other global towns where similar operations take place.

While acknowledging the fact that the terminal is not where it is supposed to be, Laursen, said they were putting the right facilities in place to encourage productivity.