NPA To Generate N132bn This Year

The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) proposes to generate an estimated N132, 655,383,000 as revenue this year.

The NPA Managing Director, Engr. Omar Suleiman, dropped the hint during the presentation of the organisation’s 2011 budget proposal to members of the House of Representatives and Senate Committees on Marine Transport at the National Assembly complex in Abuja.

According to Suleiman, the NPA would generate revenue from the 10 million tonnes of cargo, 96 million tonnes of crude oil shipments, 517, 000 twenty equivalent units (TEUS) of containers projected in the 2011 budget proposal.

The NPA boss noted that other sources of revenue would be from 4,295 ocean-going vessels and 17,676 coastal vessels.

He added that the ports would have 81 million gross registered tonnage of ocean going vessels, five million gross registered tonnage of coastal vessels and 76 million gross registered tonnage of crude oil tankers this year.

Suleiman explained that N84.9 billion would be spent on capital projects, while recurrent expenditure would gulp N47billion.

He stressed that N7 billion would be spent to develop new port facilities.

The NPA helmsman declared that N30.87billion would be collected from ship traffic, N44.06 billion from harbour dues, N48.59billion from administrative revenues and , N8.1 billion as four per cent port development levy.

Other sources of revenue, according to him, are royalties/throughput fees, N7.6billion; ship dues, N27.6billion; berth rent, N241million; annual lease fee, N21.7billion; oil terminals, N3.47billion; estate rent, N5.1billion and port piers, N517million.

Noting that attention would be paid to enhancing human capacity, he said N1.2billion would be spent on staff training.

Suleiman noted that the authority would spend N11.5million on scholarship.

On repairs and maintenance, he said N441.3million would be spent on buildings, wharves/corrosion protection, roads and sidings, vessels, buoys, channels and waterways, including buoyage system, motor vehicles, office furniture and office equipment.

He added that hazard and furniture allowances would gulp N70million and N3.59 billion respectively.

Suleiman explained that the authority had earmarked N1.51billion for senior staff salary and N663million for junior staff salary.

He noted that the NPA was developing the necessary infrastructure to make Nigerian seaports the hub in the West African sub-region.

He added that it had become imperative to spend more money on infrastructure this year to enable the authority make more money in the subsequent years.

The NPA chief posited that it was inevitable to spend the amount because of the need to expand the existing port facilities in order to cope with increasing cargo traffic and port congestion.

Suleiman noted that the removal of 25 critical wrecks and the deepening of the Lagos Channel will attract bigger vessels, leading to increase in gross registered tonnage of vessels and quicker ship turnaround time.