The Executive Secretary of Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC), Mr. Hassan Bello has listed first set of nine spots for the development of Truck Transit Parks (TTP) across the country, saying the scheme will among other things deliver sanity on the roads and provide short term resting place for truck drivers on long distance.
The listed towns include Lokoja in Kogi State; Obollo-Afor, Enugu; Jebba, Kwara; Ore, Ondo; Ogere, Ogun; Porto Novo Creek, Lagos; Onitsha, Anambra; and Mararaban in Nasarawa states respectively.
In an interview, he said “We have huge infrastructures deficit in Nigeria particularly in transport, so we need to try to cover this gap and one of the ideas that Shippers Council is promoting is the TTP. We need to establish modern infrastructure including the Truck Transit Park, which is going to be a state -of-the-art facility away from the highway where vehicles must park, instead of parking indiscriminately along the road.”
While hinting that the facility would be automated to provide parking space for all kinds of vehicles, he noted that it will serve as a one-stop shop equipped with standard hotels, hostels, viewing centres, eatery, mechanical service workshop, shower, recreational facilities, fire service stations, filling stations, clinics, and a host of other amenities.
Key preconditions for approval of investment include space of about 40,000 hectares of land, thereby giving space for extension, adding that there are collaborations with the law enforcement agencies to ensure that nobody parked along the highways, just as all the transport associations are integrated into the plan.
Bello added that “We want to bring sanity and ensure that investors have returns on investment. We have already fashioned out a Memorandum of Understanding with the Nigerian Road Safety Corps. It will be electronically monitored.
According to him, “The Council has secured two lands on Obollo Afor in Enugu State, and Lokoja in Kogi State. The Sokoto State Government is also making moves; we are looking at Kano, Porto Novo Creek, Ogere in Ogun State, Ore in Ondo State, and many other important locations”.
