The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) decided to decommission Rivers Ports Terminal B managed by BUA Ports and Terminals Limited based on alarm on safety raised by the company.
The NPA and the firm have been engrossed in blame-trade over closure of the terminal which was concessioned to BUA 10 years ago.
“The decision to decommission Rivers Ports Terminal was out of safety concerns. This concern resulted from a May 16, 2019 BUA Ports and Terminals Limited letter informing us that the jetty is in a state of total dilapidation and in urgent need of repair or reconstruction…our engineers have advised us that the jetty is liable to collapse at any moment…
“The NPA would be an irresponsible organisation to look the other way and endanger the lives of Nigerians when a company painted this frightening situation in a letter sent to the Authority,” an official statement explained.
The NPA described as inaccurate allegations against it by the management of BUA Group over the state of affairs of recently decommissioned terminal.
A statement by the general manager corporate and strategic communications of the NPA, Jatto Adams, said BUA breached terms of the contract which require it to invest in developing the terminal.
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He said the company never planned to undertake any work on the terminal until a revocation notice was served on it.
Bua Ports and Terminals Limited also claimed to have written several requests for approval to perform remedial works on the berth. This is a laughable claim as BUA only commenced writing the authority requesting to reconstruct the berthafter the termination notice had been issued following 10 years of refusal to fulfil this obligation.
“How can you request to reconstruct a berth which you have no legal claim to following the termination? This is yet another of their attempts at deceiving the Nigerian public.”
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