The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) says it has concluded plans with the terminal operators to begin the reconstruction of the collapsed berths at the Rivers Port.
Mohammed Bello-Koko, the managing director of NPA, disclosed this on Thursday in Port Harcourt during his maiden visit to the port.
A berth is a designated location in a port or harbour used for mooring vessels. Berths provide a vertical front, which allows safe and secure mooring to facilitate the unloading or loading of cargo or people from a vessel.
Bello-Koko said the BUA terminal, one of the terminal operators, has been given final approval for the submitted design, adding that construction would commence soon.
He said the agency is dissatisfied with the speed at which the construction company is carrying out the repairs and expected that the reconstruction should have started a few months ago.
According to the NPA boss, berths 5 to 8 of the BUA terminal built in the 1920s collapsed years back.
“We understand the need to plan properly, but that plan is over, and we expect that they should have resumed reconstruction on those berths,” he said.
Bello-Koko further said the Ports and Terminal Operators Nigeria Limited (PTOL) has a development plan that involves bringing down some of the shades in the terminal to improve the stacking areas and increase the terminal’s ability to handle more cargoes.
He added that plans are ongoing to rehabilitate the PTOL terminal, which has some collapsed berths, to allow bigger vessels to berth at Rivers Port.
“We are very serious about the need to increase traffic to the Eastern Ports so that way we can decongest Lagos Ports. Though most of these ports have draft limitations and we are looking at dredging deeper so that bigger vessels can come and enable economies of scale. We are beginning to see increased activities in Onne Port, which we are happy about,” he said.
He also added that the government is keen on repairing all roads leading to the port.
