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Maduka Nweke
The menace brought about by the continuous stay of trucks, containers and trailers around Apapa and its environs has forced a lot of the residents to vacate their properties. Some of the landlords who relocated out of Apapa put their properties for either rent, lease or outright sale. However, reports from one of the landlords that left Apapa indicate that even though he put the price of his property 20 per cent below the normal price, there were no buyers coming.
Mr. Abdul Mummuni, a landlord along the Commercial Avenue said he had wanted to sell his property and buy another one where the road is accessible but he had seen no buyer. He said that government has really abandoned the Apapa axis despite that it is the country’s economic gateway. “Why will Federal Government create the impression that some private individuals are above the law. These trucks and containers are owned by private individuals yet they remain untouched. This is indirectly killing Nigeria’s economy. Time is money and when one stays in a traffic for more hours than is expected, we fail to know money is going. This is why hunger and hard times will not leave Nigeria,” he said.
Another respondent who chose to be anonymous said the perennial gridlock in the port city of Apapa, Lagos, is exerting enormous toll on the value of landed property in the area.
According to him, a study conducted recently reveals that the value of property in Apapa GRA has dropped by as much as 25 per cent over the past three years while tenement rates for residential accommodation have dropped by 30 per cent over the same period. “The study, conducted on 83 buildings located on Liverpool Road and Maybin Streets, Apapa, showed that the cost of renting residential apartments dropped in order to attract clients who now view Apapa as “an unlivable area” because of the gridlock.
A resident on Liverpool Road, who identified himself as Balogun Disu, said as at 2015, the cost of renting a mini-flat on the street ranged between N400,000 and N450,000 but has now dropped to N350,000 per annum.
The study went further to report that a real estate agent noted that the current average rent value for a two-bedroom flat in the area is N1.5 million per annum, down from the average of N2 million the same type of property commanded in 2015. The agent blamed the traffic situation in Apapa for the drop in rental value.
“A lot of people have left Apapa because of the numerous tankers and trucks constituting nuisance on Liverpool Road. Residents find it difficult to go in and out of their apartments; there are times the entire road is blocked. The companies that are still there have business to do with the port. They are hoping that the glory of Apapa would be restored when the ongoing work on the road is completed,” the agent was quoted to have said.
Further findings of the expert revealed that a three-bedroom flat commands N2 million in rent, down by 25 per cent from N2.5 million in 2015. The situation was no different at Maybin Street, which has been cordoned off from the major Wharf Road for repairs.
