By Brave Dickson
Transporters under the aegis of Petrochemical and Fertilizer Transporters Association, Indorama Chapter, Rivers State have appealed to government authorities to create more parks for trailers within the Eleme axis of the East-West road so as to decongest the unbearable traffic on the road.
The association made the appeal in the wake of incessant traffic gridlock confronting the Eleme axis of the East-West road which it said has made transportation business very difficult for members.
In an interview with our correspondent, the state chairman of the association, Alhaji Mustapha Zaria underscored the urgent need for the creation of more trailer parks which he said would enhance the ease of doing business in the area.
The state chairman who described the Eleme axis of the state as the industrial heart of the country, urged the Eleme council authority and the state government to come together and fashion out ways of decongesting traffic on the road.
According to him: “Since my election as chairman of this association, we have tried in our own little way to reduce traffic on this road by inaugurating special taskforce for traffic decongestion of Eleme East-West road.
“Though we have made significant impact on the road and we have observed that trailer drivers do not really have sufficient parks and until more parks are created for trailers, the issue of heavy traffic on the road would continue.
“We need both the local and state governments to come in because we can not continue like this. This road is very important for transporters and commuters and the industrial heart of this country lies within this zone.
“We have wasted unquantified amount of man-hour leading to huge economic decline from all business stakeholders of this road. We want to see governments addressing the issue of more trailer parks for transporters as we have done our part in officially drawing their attention to our plight.
“As for me and my team, we will continue to do our best in making sure that transporters of our chapter do not face difficulties that would discourage them from business especially those that emanate from government failure.”
Alhaji Zaria also advised transporters of his association not to indulge in shoddy deals that would incriminate them while maintaining his readiness to only work for the good of genuine members
