It is a rare collaboration between the federal government and the private sector that will gladden the hearts of many Nigerians, particularly, users of Apapa Wharf road. The road, which has for long made life inbearable for both businessmen and residents of Apapa due to its poor state, will now be reconstructed by Dangote Industries Limited, DIL, and Flour Mills of Nigeria, FMN, with concrete overlay.The construction of the road valued at N4.3 billion will be handled by AGDangote, a subsidiary of DIL, which has constructed concrete roads in Ibese, Ogun State and currently working on roads in Obajana, Kogi State.
The Federal government signed a memorandum of understanding, MOU, with the two companies to repair the road at the weekend.
Joseph Makoju, honorary adviser to the President/Chief Executive of Dangote Group, said the Group was moved by the deplorable state of the road which informed the need to look for like mind-thinking partners to effect repairs and salvage the road. He said the deplorable state of the road has impacted negatively on businesses, activities and lives of people within the locality and crippled economic activities as people spend whole days in traffic losing precious work hours.
Makoju commended the Managing Director of the Nigeria Ports Authority, who he said put in extra efforts to ensure the handing over of the road for reconstruction as the project has been on ground for over a year. The new road, he said will be concrete based in contrast to laterite base and has a life span of between 30 years to 50 years.
He described the road reconstruction as a higher form of corporate social responsibility, CSR, as Dangote Group is not asking for tax rebates. According to him, businesses need to engage with host communities through corporate social responsibility projects to ensure sustainability.
“Here at Dangote, we have built houses, new towns, hospitals, schools, roads, markets and awarded scholarships in the communities where we have our operations but this is a higher form of corporate social responsibility. This project is a higher form of intervention on a national level, intervening in provision of critical infrastructure,” said Makoju.
Babatunde Fashola, minister of Works, said: “We are here to embark on what will be the final solution to a massive inconvenience business and people in Apapa suffered over the years. Apapa is the nation’s first industrial base and was served by a good rail system. Cargo and containers were moved by rail to all parts of the country. The road network was for transport of passengers. The roads were good. However, we allowed the rails to collapse and choose road for evacuation of containers and cargo. But we are working to stop all these. The minister of transport is taking steps to revive the rails and evacuation of cargo and containers from the ports.”
He thanked Dangote Group and Flour Mills for coming take over the road for repairs. “We must thank Dangote Group and Flour mills for coming to our aid via providing the funding for the repairs. The repairs estimated for a duration of one year is valued at N4.3 billion,” Fashola said.
He attributed the delays in handing over the road for reconstruction to the need to put final touches to the road design. “Apapa has high water table and any road built here must have proper drainages otherwise it will be experiencing constant flooding. We have done the survey and prepared the bill of quantity. The two kilometer road which will be based on concrete is estimated at N4.3 billion. A concrete base instead of laterite is chosen. Concrete base has a lifespan of between 30 to 50 years and in many developed countries, concrete base is used presently for roads. AG Dangote, a subsidiary of Dangote Group is chosen as the contractor. The construction and funding will be on corporate social responsibilities bases as they will not be seeking for tax reliefs,” explained Fashola.