Motorists and other com¬muters enter¬ing Apapa on Friday heaved a sigh of relief as the roads, par¬ticularly the Ijora axis, through Marine Beach were somewhat free of the usual encumbrances, following the stepping up of enforcement by the Lagos State Taskforce on Environmental and other special Offences against illegal parking by tanker and truck drivers.
Bayo Sulaiman, chair¬man of the taskforce, told BusinessDay on Friday that the taskforce opera¬tives mobilised to the road to clear petrol tankers and container bearing trucks parked indiscriminately, which cause the heavy congestions on roads in and out of Apapa.
Sulaiman did not give much detail about Friday’s operation or the specific number of trucks moved from the road but said that the Lagos State govern¬ment was committed to freeing Apapa of gridlock.
“I can’t give details about the number of trucks towed because as I speak to you, my men are still out there working. But some trucks were removed and taken to Mile Two,” Sulaiman said, adding that the operation was a continuous exercise aimed at decongesting the
roads to Apapa.
He, however, admitted that the situation in Apapa was a challenge requiring a holistic approach.
Last week had been particularly bad for resi¬dents, motorists, commut¬ers and businesses operat¬ing from Apapa, as major roads into the area includ¬ing Mile Two, Tin Can and Ijora-Apapa, Boundary-Apapa axis were clogged with tankers and trucks taking a larger chunk of the roads.
Apapa hosts two of Ni¬geria’s seaports, Tin Can and Apapa ports, from where the government rakes in billions of naira annually but little atten¬tion is paid to the area. Although rehabilitation work for which contract was awarded to Julius Berger by the Federal Government is currently ongoing on Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, the pace of work has been slow.
