Dilapidated Seaports To Gulp $800 Million, Says NPA
The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has estimated that the reconstruction of some of the dilapidated seaports in the country will gulp about $800 million.
The Managing Director of NPA, Mohammed Bello-Koko, during an interview with Channels Television said there was imminent collapse in the ports if nothing was done in the next few years, there will be problems.
“Our estimate currently is between $560 million and $800 million. Now that gap is because if we decide to leave Apapa to some other time, we do not need $800 million but we need to also reconstruct TinCan port, as we are reconstructing other places; we need about $800m. We have increased our revenue from N260 billion to now N361 billion. Our contribution to CRF has increased to N91 billion and we believe that this year we will do far better than that,”
Bello-Koko added:“The port of TinCan is collapsing. There is no imminent collapse but in the next few years, if nothing is done, there will be problems.
“We have been managing it and doing other palliatives but it is time we rehabilitate TinCan ports. We also need to rehabilitate some parts of Apapa. We need to reconstruct the breakwaters in Escravos. It has collapsed for over 10 years,” he said.
Bello-Koko said that the agency had increased its revenue to N361 billion from N260 billion, stressing that its contribution to Consolidated Revenue Fund had increased to N91 billion.
