The Lagos State Government has blamed the gridlock on the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway on the lack of parking space for tankers coming to the seaport for various businesses.
The Special Adviser to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Transportation, Sola Giwa, disclosed this in an interview last Thursday following an operation to clear the road obstructions.
Giwa called on the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers as well as tank farm owners to ensure parking bays are provided for tankers.
Giwa said: “On the Mile 2/Apapa Expressway, today, there’s a gridlock, tomorrow there’s another gridlock, it’s because the tanker drivers refused to use the call-up system. As you (tanker drivers) are coming to the port to come and do your business, you first go to the park; when it’s time for you to move, you move.”
He said at the Tincan Port side “there are about five tank farms, we have identified parks for them to key into the call-up system. It’s high time we called on NUPENG and the tank farm owners. The tank farm owners do not have parking bays for the trucks, so you see them on the road. And it’s not easy arresting tankers because of the volatility of their products.”
Commuters have in recent times had tough times on the expressway due to gridlocks, especially around Second Rainbow and Mile 2.
Some of the commuters blamed the sudden return of trucks to the route. A driver, Ismail Adedayo, said he spent longer hours than usual on the expressway. “The trucks have suddenly returned and are causing us more time on the road. It is important that the trucks are regulated on the road,” the driver said.
During Thursday’s operation, operatives of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority impounded 15 tankers parked indiscriminately along the 2nd Rainbow down to the Mile 2 Bridge on the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway.
In a statement, LASTMA’s Director, Public Affairs and Enlightenment Department, Adebayo Taofiq, confirmed that the operation was carried out on the directives of Giwa.
LASTMA disclosed that some of the impounded tankers were apprehended inside Mile 2 estates after investigations revealed that some of them parked indiscriminately thereby causing serious traffic for motorists coming out from the estates.