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Chinwendu Obienyi
Residents of Satellite Town in Lagos have openly condemned the planned construction of another container terminal which is to be situated in Zone 2, Liverpool Estate.
The residents who decried the deplorable state of roads within the corridor, said the construction of another container terminal would bring further hardship to the community by affecting the movement of vehicles.
Speaking on behalf of the residents in an interview with Daily Sun during an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) programme by the Federal Ministry of Environment, the Lagos State Ministry of Environment, and the Amuwo Odofin Local Government for an approval of a Container Terminal owned by Jakys Limited, Chairman, Satellite Town Forum, Governor Imitimi, noted that the community had earlier cried to the government to relocate the tank farms as well as remove tankers on the road creating traffic gridlock. He said the congestion brought about by the heavy vehicular presence was inhibiting the movement of other motorists, as the government seems not to be doing anything about the situation.
Imitimi further said that 13 petroleum marketing companies already operate over 50 tank farms in the same community and generates about 450 tanker activity daily and that a container terminal operating at Alakija Bus stop, generates about 300 trailer activity daily.
According to him, “ the combination of the two above helped to lock down Satellite Town in agonising ing and unmanageable traffic daily. Residents who feel despondent and cut off from the Lagos Mega city decried government’s attitude in that direction.
This method of decongesting Apapa Port is causing additional punishment to the residents. “If this continues, which road will the new container terminal going to use to convey the containers if approved?
“We are task payers and if you are putting up an investment that would affect the safety and lives of residents, we will not support it. It is not fair at all, it is something that would bring hardship to the community. Satellite Town is a residential area, this company could have set up their investment probably somewhere else other than a residential area. NIWA is responsible for this situation. NPA even denied any knowledge of the constructions, but from the presentation of Jakys, we observed it lied just to cover up its act”.
