The Federal Government is set to compensate terminal operators whose facilities would be affected in the ongoing efforts to return rail tracks to Lagos seaports, it was gathered on Tuesday.

The initiative, it was learnt, is to boost quick evacuation of cargoes from the port, enthrone efficiency and boost government revenue.

The Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Ms Hadiza Bala- Usman who spoke in an interview with The Nation, said the multibillion naira contract for the construction of the rail tracks inside the port, has been awarded by the government.

She said the contractor was engaged by the Federal Ministry of Transportation and the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) as part of efforts to end  Apapa perennial traffic gridlock.

She said: “It is evident that as a port, you cannot have all your cargoes evacuated by road. Therefore, what we intend to do this year is to deploy the necessary rail connection to the port. As you can see, there is ongoing work in the Apapa/Tin-Can area by the contractor engaged by the Federal Ministry of Transportation.

“They have demolished some warehouses and they are about to start to lay the tracks for the rail.

“We are keen to have the project concluded and that is why we have identified areas where we would require access to the terminals.

“The Federal Ministry of Transportation has provided the necessary compensation for those locations tthat are going to be used for the rail tracks,” she said.

The move, she said, was part of the new initiative by the government to reduce the perennial gridlock on Apapa roads and boost evaquation of cargoes from the ports.

Assuring the stakeholders that the Apapa/Oshodi/Oworonshoki would soon be completed, she said the NPA is excited because “rail is really a cargo means of transportatio and that is where the revenue is.

A senior NPA official who craved annonimity said  before the concessioning, there were rail lines in the ports.

“Containers were evacuated through rail from Lagos to Kaduna and Kano Inland Container Terminals. Unfortunately after the concessioning there were no traces of the rail lines in the ports any more, they were removed,” the source said.

The official alleged that the presidential taskforce had turned the gridlock in Apapa to a commercial venture.

He said: “A truck that should enter the port within an hour, will take seven to 10 days to enter the port; in fact, you have to pay heavily before entring the ports.

“When you stay at the waterfront within Tin-Can and Apapa ports, you will see naval officers piloting trucks into the ports. The traffic is not inside the port but from outside the port. But the issue of the road is what the government must address.’’