The National Inland Waterways Authority, NIWA, Thursday boosted efforts of the Federal Government to improve water transportation in Nigeria with the commissioning of some sea vessels at its area office in Port Harcourt.
Some of the vessels commissioned included a tug boat, house boat, water ambulance and 2 patrol boats all expected to give the needed boost to marine transportation.
Commissioning the vessels, Minister of State for Transportation, Sen. Gbemisola Saraki, who was represented at the event by Managging Ddirector, NIWA, Dr. George Moghalu, noted that the event was a milestone in government efforts to build infrastructure and create the enabling environment for business to thrive in the country.
“A country blessed with more than 10,000 Kilometres of inl. waterways is certainly a nation with great maritime potential if such natural environments are properly harnessed”, she observed adding that Inland waterways were the cheapest and safest means of transportation and play a critical role in multimodal transportation.
The Minister of State added; “It is therefore compelling that the waterways must be dredged to achieve the required draft, adequate surveys, mapping and charting with marker bouys with signages put in place, and every necessary steps taken to in ensure safe navigation.
‘It is only in such a state of internal frastructural development that the much needed investment can be attracted. This is one of the reasons I have directed three years ago that NIWA ensures regular in-house maintenance, dredging of the waterways, it is therefore gratifying to note that some of the vessels we are commissioning today, the tug boat and the house boat are part of the dredging equipment necessary for a smooth dredging operation.
Beyond providing accommodation for dredging crew, the houseboat can also be deployed for emergency evaquation in rescue if the need arises.
Whereas the water ambulance will serve for medical purposes, and search and rescue in times of boat mishaps, the two patrol boats are some of the authority’s fleets of vessels providing security in the waterways.
“What is much more gratifying however is the fact that all the crafts being commissioned today are built in-country by Nigerians.
In an interview with journalists, Managing Director of NIWA, Dr. George Moghalu said that in addition to the commissioned vessels NIWA was exploring the Public Private Partnership PPP financing model to build commercial vessels.
He said; “We are already talking with some organizations that are interested in doing transport, ferrying movements using pontoons, and our discussions with them are very encouraging.
“We all believe believe very strongly that Inland Waterway transportation is the way to go, it has a lot of potentials which people need to explore, presently we are renovating some broken down ferries I inherited here, to get them back to work, as we speak now, some of them are already on water working.
“However, my main emphasis is getting the Private sector to key into the vision and I can assure you that the response we are receiving are quiet encouraging.
“One of the groups we are talking with has picked to manage Oron/Calabar route, another has picked Agenegbode/ Iddah route, yet another group has picked interest in operating Onitsha/ Asaba route, especially this festive seasons.
They are talking with them so that they can put in vessels to ply that route, pontoons to carry vehicles and vessels to carry passengers”.
Speaking on plans for movement of high volume of cargoes he said, “there is quiet a lot we can do in the area; I am one of those that said that our roads are not designed for the weight they are carrying, that us why they keep collapsing.
“All over the world, bulk cargoes are usually moved by water or by rail, why will out own be different?, so there are quiet a lot of value to add.
“That is why the vision of transport Ministry, this multimodal transport system, getting the roads, rails and waterways, coastal lines to work so that we can operate seamlessly, and once we are able to achieve that there’s quiet a lot of value to add to the chain.
PPP equally covers cabortage movement, already we have registered some companies who indicated interest in doing cargo movement, they want yo do badge transportation to the hinterlands.
“For me, that is the way to go, the moment people are able to key into that vision, there are a lot of advantages in terms of employment opportunities, development of new towns on the coastal lines and waterways”.
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