NPA to Reconstruct Dilapidated Dockyard at Rivers Port, Mulls 30% Tariff Rebate for Terminal Operators

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NPA Managing Director, Mohammed Bello-Koko (2nd from left) and his management team at Rivers Port on Thursday

NPA Managing Director, Mohammed Bello-Koko (2nd from left) and his management team at Rivers Port on Thursday

The Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Mohammed Bello-Koko us on a tour of the Rivers Port, even as he has revealed that the agency is taking actions to reconstruct the dilapidated Dockyard at the ports.

Bello-Koko also disclosed that the authority is considering granting 30% tariff relief to terminal operators at the Rivers Ports in order to increase patronage and number of vessels calling at the ports.

Bello-Koko getting welcomed to Rivers Port
Bello-Koko getting welcomed to Rivers Port

Speaking in Port Harcourt on Thursday, he acknowledged the request for rebate from the terminal operators, saying “We are reviewing their request for a 30 percent rebate but we need to understand that we don’t just give a rebate without some conditions.

“We seat down with them, those discussions have started, we give them the conditions based on the tariff relief.
“It might be lower or higher than 30 percent

“We also came to look at the dockyard.
The dockyard is necessary and an important part of the port where you dock and service vessels, but you can see it is dilapidated.
“We are thinking on what to do either to find private investors to invest in the dockyard or the NPA to take up that responsibility, to repair the finger jetty and get the berth to work.
“So we have come to the Eastern ports because we are very serious about the need to increase vessel and cargo traffic.
“That way, we would be able to decongest the ports in Lagos.
“On the need to attract importers to the Eastern ports, we have said this so many times, the decision where the cargo will be delivered and evacuated is that of the consignee.
” The consignee decides the port of discharge for his cargo.

“We are doing all we can to encourage them to bring in their cargo to the Eastern ports.
“We are working on probably to review the tariffs, properly to give them tariff relief that will trickle down to the importers that will encourage them to bring in their cargo to the Eastern ports.
“Most of the ports in the East, their problem is the draught of the channel and that is what we are looking at.
“It is not just to reconstruct the quays, we also need to dredge deeper so that bigger vessels can come in and the economy of scale will set in and then you will be able to bring in those vessels to berth.
“We are beginning to see increased activities in Onne and we are happy to see what is going on in Onne.
” I can’t give you figures on the cost implications of these reconstruction works to NPA.
” We have interim surveys that are being carried out. We know the channels are very long so we need to determine what draught of the channel we need to achieve.

“The entrance is about 9.5 meters, there are places that are over 12, 14 meters and in some locations, they are about 9.5 meters.
“We are going to look at the survey plans of the channels and then determine what is the achievable draught and start working on the dredging” Bello-Koko stated

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