Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, says the reason roads in Nigeria continue getting bad is due to overbearing vehicular weight they are constantly subjected to.
He stated this on Thursday at the Port Harcourt Area office of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), where he commissioned five of 20 newly acquired craft of NIWA.
The minister said that the roads were not originally designed to carry overbearing vehicular weight.
Amaechi was represented on the occasion by NIWA Managing Director, George Moghalu.
He said, “Water transportation is the way to go. Our roads are not designed to carry the weight they are carrying and that is why they keep collapsing.
“If, for example, we have five million trailers going between Lagos and South East, that translates to going and coming of ten million trailers. Our roads are not designed for such pressures. All over the world, bulk cargo is usually moved by water so why would ours be any different?
“We are laying emphasis on Private Public Partnership, talking with some organization interested in doing Transport Ferry. We are talking and they are going to do that. We all believe inland waterway transport is the way to go. We are investing in the renovation of some old ferry and others are already in the water”
Noting that inland Waterways remained safest, and cheapest mode of transportation, Amaechi said that NIWA’S acquisition, and use of different vessels being commissioned would help make way for investors to come in.
The five vessels commissioned were a Tug Boat, House Boat, Water Ambulance and two Patrol Boats.