The Lagos State House of Assembly has endorsed Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s vision to have two rail lines operational by 2022.
The State is currently constructing the infrastructure for the Blue Line, which would run from Marina, lagos to Okokomaiko while the Red, whose construction is to begin soon, will share tracks with the Lagos – Ibadan Rail Modernisation project of the Federal Government and are expected to move more than one million passengers daily.
The first phase of the Blue rail line – Mile 2 to Marina – has achieved about 80 per cent completion rate while the remaining works involve construction of the Marina rail station, completion of piers with the lagoon and retaining walls.
Chairman, Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Transportation, Hon. Temitope Adewale stated the position of the Assembly during the Committee’s visit to the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA).
Hon. Adewale, who said the Committee was in LAMATA as part of its oversight functions, described the transport planning authority as a focused organisation and pledged that the Committee and the House of Assembly would do all within its power to continue to back it up to deliver on tis mandate.
He said the Committee was aware of the commitment of LAMATA to providing sustainable infrastructure that would birth a world class multimodal integrated transport system.
“There is the growing concern of daily needs of Lagosians who must move from point A to point B. From our interactions with them, we are assured that LAMATA is here to give us the solution to our mobility challenges. And the solution is very simple. No matter how many roads you build without thinking of how to move the people en-masse from one point to the other, all the efforts would come to naught.”
He commended the LAMATA team, describing the staff as a “team ready to move the transport sector in Lagos state forward.”
While briefing the Committee, Managing Director of LAMATA, Engr. Abimbola Akinajo informed that the State Government has a Strategic Transport Master Plan which details six rail lines and one monorail, 14 BRT routes, three cable car projects and over 20 water routes for implementation.
Engr. Akinajo informed that the State Government under the Bus Reform programme would inject over 2000 buses and encourage the development of bus of a bus assembly plant to cater to the needs of the state’s bus requirements and those of neighboring West African states.
The LAMATA boss also disclosed that the agency would soon begin the implementation of eight quality bus corridors, two interchanges at Marina and Mile 2, complete the construction of bus terminals at Yaba, Iyana Ipaja, Ajah, Abule Egba and Ojota as well expand the First
