In a bid to take some loads off Apapa and expand the maritime potential of Lagos State, Westron Properties Nig. Ltd., has opened up the Ijegun Port City.
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The Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mr George Igboegwu, made the disclosure during a media briefing in Lagos on Friday.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Westron properties incorporated in Jan. 18, 1983, is involved in property development and management in Nigeria and the United Kingdom.
According to Igboegwu, opening up the Ijegun Port City in Lagos will help take off at least 25 per cent load from Apapa.
“ The emerging port city of Ijegun is a private sector initiative borne out of necessity.
“Our company was involved in industrial fishing and we were usually caught up with delays at the Apapa Port together with the gridlock on the axis.
“Our fishing trawlers could not find adequate berthing facilities; while searching for a solution to the problem, we stumbled on the calm waters and natural harbour of Ijegun, and decided to explore the maritime potential with active cooperation of government,” he said.
Igboegwu said that the demand for port facilities in Lagos had seen an exponential growth in the last few years.
“The resultant effect is that even the addition of Tincan Port can still not meet this demand.
“This has led to the chaos Apapa has turned into, with the nation losing money on daily basis.
“Efforts by government to ease the pain have not yielded the desired results,’’ he said.
Igboegwu said that the establishment of Ijegun Port City had brought rapid development and increased the overall storage capacity for petroleum products; thus reducing incidences of shortage
He said that at present, Lagos warehoused about 60 per cent of the nation’s petroleum products, adding that 25 per cent was handled at Ijegun.
“Today, there are 12 tank farms in Ijegun for liquid petroleum products, holding a storage capacity of about 600,000,000 litres and product storage.
“Four of these are cited on land developed and sold to the tank farm developers by us; also, we have land to accommodate further eight of such facilities,’’ he said.
Igboegwu said that availability of requisite infrastructure for the new city had been a problem, noting, however, that various parties had been making contributions toward this, under the umbrella of the Ijegun Tank Farm Association.
He said that a new bridge and road built by Westron represented part of its contributions toward bridging the infrastructure gap.
He said that the projects would present additional development in the area and result in further growth of the new city.
He said that the Lagos State Government had given the assurance of its commitment to contributing toward the development of the area and providing the required infrastructure.
“With the right private sector funding and cooperation and assistance from government, we have no doubt that Ijegun will see more growth and provide further answers to the riddle of Apapa,’’ he said.