Forty two years after the idea was muted, the Onitsha River Port made history when it received light cargo barges with containers, which the National Inland Waterways Authority, NIWA, said was to test run the activities in the port. The development drew excitement among the residents of the town who are mainly importers and exporters. Their excitement stemmed from the fact that when the port fully comes on stream, they would not have to travel to Lagos to clear their goods as that would be done in Onitsha.
Work on the Onitsha River Port project was begun during the administration of former President Shehu Shagari in 1983. Since then, it has been laying fallow due mainly to politicization. Though it was rehabilitated and commissioned by former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2012, there were still no activities.
One of the drawbacks was the shallowness of the River Niger, which could not allow for ships to berth at Onitsha. So, for this past 42 years, Onitsha Port remained a white elephant project until the determination of the present administration to inject life into it.
What was witnessed at the commercial town of Onitsha at the weekend was not the berthing of ships, but the arrival of barges which came from Onne Port in Rivers State. The exercise was supervised by the Managing Director of NIWA, Chief George Moghalu who also received the barges and the containers at the port. Saturday Vanguard gathered that full activities at the port are expected to begin in the first quarter of 2021.
Experts are of the view that for a ship to arrive and berth in Onitsha, there is need to properly dredge the river from the Atlantic ocean to Onitsha and other inland river ports.
No comments:
Post a Comment