The importance of ensuring Public Private Partnerships in the country are executed without undue encumbrances was highlighted as a delegation of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), visited Josepdam port concession site in Lagos, as part of its monitoring activities.
Chidi Izuwah, acting Director General, ICRC who led the delegation expressed delight at the site, which shows the potentials of PPP for making the economy more vibrant, and improving the country’s indices as it pertains to port operations.
Izuwah said the commission is aware of some of the challenges currently being faced by josepdam, which range from the challenge of having third party and equipment occupying more than 25 percent of their terminal land mass, court injunction brought against Jospdam port services by third party and inability to meet covenanted GMT target as stated in the agreement due to certain challenges.
Izuwah however maintained that all disagreements relating to concession exercises at the ports must therefore be resolved in order to make Nigerian ports the hub for international shipping trade in the West and Central African sub-region.
According to him, the commission is working tirelessly to ensure that all of such challenges be resolved.
“It is on this premise that the ICRC decided to embark on this monitoring exercise to brainstorm with your management and the NPA on the way forward.
“As the regulator of the lease agreement, we cannot fold our hands and leave you to struggle it out alone,” Izuwah said.
“Under the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration, there is a will to address this issue and effort is being made to resolve it to create a win-win situation for all parties,” He said.
Simon Travers, managing director, JBS, urged the commission to assist in finding an amicable settlement on the issue of the third party presence at the terminal which was hindering its operations.
He recommended that the NPA should review and extend the lease agreement for years lost due to the third party interference and also appealed to the government to repair the access road to the port.
Prior to the ports exercise and subsequent concession of terminals in 2006, the nation’s ports were known for inefficiency and decaying infrastructure resulting in the delay in cargo clearance and several other malpractices.
ICRC is a commission that was established in 2005 and saddled with the responsibility of monitoring and ensuring the efficient execution of all Public Private Partnership projects (PPP) entered into by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) on behalf of the federal government.
