Following the expiration of the concession agreements with five terminal operators in the industry, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) says it is set to ratify a renewed concession.
The concession agreements which were signed in 2006, expired in 2021.
Disclosing this during a media chat in Lagos, the Managing Director of NPA, Mr Mohammed Bello-Koko, said under the new agreement, Terminal Operators would be more responsible for the maintenance of Quays, Fenders and allied matters such as port illumination.
“The Authority is concluding discussions on the terms of the agreement and once that is sorted, the report will be sent to the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Federal Ministry of Transportation (FMOT) and the Federal Ministry of Justice (FMOJ).
“The agreements were signed in 2006 and while some have expired, some are still running. But the expired ones are being renewed and what we are looking at is what will be in the best interest of the country.
“What was agreed in 2006 is no more tenable, the demands of the country and of the NPA are different from what they were in 2006,” Bello-Koko said.
The NPA CEO explained that the Federal Government through the NPA had resolved to hold Terminal Operators more accountable under the new agreement on maintenance as well as on deployment of modern equipment in sufficient quantity.
According to him, two of the expired leases had agreed to invest in the development of the TinCan Port.
He added: “The need to discuss with the other terminal operators whose leases have not expired became important, since development will entail the whole berth.
“It is these fine details that are being worked on, but I believe within the month, they will be finalized and sent to FMOT, FMOJ, BPE, ICRC accordingly.”
On the whole, Bello-Koko said the renewal of the leases had afforded NPA the opportunity to take a closer look at the Port Modernization project of the government, pointing out that preliminary agreements together with the renewal documents would be communicated to the Federal Ministry of Transportation in the next few days.
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