Ogun to commence Inland Dry Port development at Kajola/Papalanto      

By Kolawole Olayinka, Abeokuta

Ogun State government is set to begin the construction of Kajola Inland Dry Port (IDP), which is intended to speed up the industrialisation of the state.

A multi-land use dry port city is also to be developed around the site of the proposed port to decongest the busy Apapa seaport, according to the Commissioner for Transportation, Mr. Gbenga Dairo.  

Dairo disclosed this on Tuesday during an inspection visit to the proposed site for the Dry Port at Papalanto-Iro Road, Ewekoro Local Government Area of the state.

The commissioner, who was accompanied to the site by a team of engineers from the government side and a team of Logistic Hub experts and development partners from Arise IIP Group said the port when completed would be known as Kajola/Papalanto IDP because of the convergence of the standard gauge and the narrow-gauge rail lines along the corridor which runs through to Apapa, Lagos, thus, initiating cargos to be moved easily via the rail trunk from Apapa port.

He maintained that the reason for the planned dry port at the location was because of its closeness to the Kajola/interchange industrial city which has fully emerged and keyed into the vision of the state government of creating an enabling environment for business development and making industrialists have a new lease of operation by removing traffic bottlenecks associated with access to raw materials and the evacuation of finished products.

He noted further that as Ogun is known to be the Gateway to all other states in the country, movement of goods and raw materials would be easy to convey from that axis in view of its strategic location with ready access to the national highway network.

Also speaking during the site inspection, West Africa Head, Arise IIP, Mr. Jasveer Singh, said his organisation was poised at developing and operating world-class industrial ecosystems, especially in Nigeria with a huge production potential.

According to him, it would be worthwhile investing in the country, especially Ogun State with its high industrial development drive.

He affirmed that his organisation would invest in the construction of the dry port project which ultimately would bring strategic advantage to the state and have a spill-over effect that will improve the ease of doing business, by solving logistics issues, for the industries in neighbouring states as well.