THE Minister of Transport Mr Rotimi Ameachi the Dan Amanan Daura has given assurances that the Dala Dry port will be fully declared port of origin and destination and will be fully ready both physically and for Marketing purposes within the year under review.
Making the disclosure when he undertook and on the spot assessment of the Port over the weekend in Kano, said the pace at which the work is being executed is encouraging .
He said so far everything needed for the actualisation of this dream is on ground.
He said ” it is visible to commence operation in this port within a couple of Weeks, projects such as the Access Road, will be guaranteed within Seven days.
The Minister said the Administrative Block was fully completed and what remain is the process of air-conditioning it, as well as the partitioning, and the staking area is ready for use because it’s ready for the past Six Months.
” We have commenced serious work and very fast track for the rail Siding, but for the other one ” We encountered serious problems though later summountable.
Speaking earlier the Executive Secretary Chief Executive Officer Nigeria Shippers Council Mr Emmanuel Jime said the completion of the dry port solely depends on when the Minister is staging a come back in March this year.
” It is then that we are going to say where we are exactly . Although there was this idea of declaring the Dala inland dry port a port of origin when it is 60 per completed . but what we have in our records as I speak is that the project had reached 80 per now.
However, he said ” I can’t stick to that agreement because I was not there when it was entered into, but that is even not a problem once we are done, with the full delivery of this project, the process to declare it a port of origin won’t be a problem at all it is pretty much like putting a Cat before the Horse
Why can’t we wait and reach to that stage before we can actually see that everything that is needed is put in place. It will be in everybody’s interest to see that this dry port is Working.”
By ABDULLAHI RABIU, Kano