Chineme Okafor in Abuja
The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) has said it will revisit the failed dredging of the waterways leading to the Calabar Seaport by the terminal operators, adding that this has continued to impede the entry and berthing of large vessels into the port.
The privatisation agency also said the development has resulted to untold hardship for businesses in the South East which have to rely on the ports in Lagos and Port Harcourt to import their wares.
The Acting Director General of the BPE, Dr. Vincent Akpotaire, said this during a post privatisation monitoring of the terminal operators at the port. He thus decried the non-dredging of the Calabar channel.
According to a statement from the head of public communication of the BPE, Mr. Alex Okoh, yesterday in Abuja, the Bureau would immediately come up with a report on its assessment of the port and present to the federal government for quick intervention and dredging.
Represented by BPE’s Director of Post Privatisation Monitoring, Mr. Joseph Anichebe, who led the BPE team to the port, Akpotaire said the dredging of the waterways was started some time ago but suddenly stopped.
He said though the BPE was not a party to the contract for the dredging of the Calabar channel, it would however step in to ensure that the government dredges the port because it was part of the agreement signed with the terminal operators during the concessioning of the terminals.
He noted that the terminal operators complained that the non-dredging of the channel had led to a lull in their operations leading to a huge loss of revenue to the government.
“Calabar Port is not what we were expecting. We expected to see here what is happening in Lagos and Port Harcourt ports where activities are booming but unfortunately, the Calabar Port has gone back to pre-2006 levels.
“We have interacted with the port operators who have told us why the port is not performing as expected and have given the Bureau an avalanche of reasons why the port is not performing. And the major challenge they say is the non-dredging of the Calabar channel,” said Akpotaire.
He further stated: “No ocean going vessel can come into the channel. We were expecting the draught to be deepened but as it is now, no big or container laden vessels can come into the port.
“When we go back after the interaction with the terminal operators, we will do a report to the BPE management and the National Council on Privatisation (NCP), chaired by the Vice-President, highlighting the problems we saw on ground and it is our belief that very soon things will change based on our recommendations.”
He said that after the interaction with the terminal operators, the key thing that played out was the non-dredging of the Calabar channel.
“You can’t ask a ship to come to Calabar port and dock because the depth is so low. And that is the critical thing we expect the federal government to do.
“As soon as the channel is dredged, Nigeria can apart from imports, also export as there are many things to export but if the ships can’t come in you can’t export. You can’t take smaller ships to export goods to Europe,” he added.
Akpotaire noted that the Calabar port is very central to the economies of the regions of the country close to it.
“Nnewi for instance imports heavy duty equipment. In Onitsha, they import all kinds of goods. Aba exports and imports a lot of products and Calabar port should be the hub but currently, it is not. People will transport their goods to Lagos to export while others would import through Lagos port and haul them by trucks and the roads are not good. So why not use the Calabar to ease their sufferings,” he explained.
According to him, the Calabar port was concessioned to Intels, Ecomarine and Shoreline Logistics in 2006. Under the concession agreement, the government was contractually obligated to dredge the Calabar channel but it never did until in 2013 when the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) appointed a Channel Manager – Calabar Channel Management (CCM) in 2013. CCM mobilised and started dredging in 2014 but suddenly stopped.
