Federal Government has handed over the Apapa Wharf troubled road to Dangote and Flour Mills for concrete overlay reconstruction which is expected to gulp ₦4.3billion.
This was the outcome of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed at the weekend in Lagos by the Federal Government with the two companies to repair the road.
The construction of the road will be handled by AGDangote, a subsidiary of Dangote Industries Limited.
Speaking at the event, the Honorary Adviser to the President/Chief Executive of Dangote Group, Mr. Joseph Makoju said Dangote Group is moved by the deplorable state of the road which informed the need to look for partners to effect repairs and salvage the road.
According to him, the deplorable state of the road has impacted negatively on businesses, activities and lives of people within the locality.
He explained that the state of the road crippled economic activities as people spend whole days in traffic losing precious work hours
Makoju opined that the two-kilometre road to Apapa is vital to the nation’s economy and described it as the national economy’s artery.
He commended the Management of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) for puttting extra efforts to ensure the hand-over of the road for reconstruction as the project has been on ground for over a year. He said the new road would be concrete-based in contrast to the laterite base with a life span of between 30 and 50 years.
He described the road reconstruction as a higher form of corporate social responsibility as Dangote Group is not asking for tax rebates.
According to him, businesses need to engage with host communities through corporate social responsibility projects to ensure sustainability.
His words: “Here at Dangote, we have built houses, new towns, hospitals, schools, roads, markets and awarded scholarships in the communities where we have our operations, but this is a higher form of corporate social responsibility. This project is a higher form of intervention on a national level, intervening in provision of critical infrastructure.”