The Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, Dr. Frederic Oladeinde has stated that the present administration has taken up a lot of ground breaking initiatives towards transforming Lagos into a smart city that is safe, secured, functional and productive.
Disclosing this at the year 2020 Ministerial Press Briefing in commemoration of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s one year in office at the J.J.T Park, Alausa Ikeja, the Commissioner declared that the administration’s commitment to public transportation is anchored on an integrated transportation system to harness the value chain in the transport sector.
According to him, the Blue and Red Lines Rail project remain the flagship transport developments of Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration. The Commissioner explained that the first phase of the Red Line, Alagbado to Oyingbo and the section of the Blue Line from Marina to Mile 2 is expected to commence passenger operation by the second quarter of the year 2022.
The Commissioner added that the State is currently evaluating bids for four other Rail Lines recently advertised for the expression of interest which will highlight proposed designs, building technicalities, maintenance and transfer arrangement.
The four lines according to Oladeinde are; 68-kilometre Green Line from Marina to Lekki Free Zone, 60 kilometre Purple Line from Redemption Camp to Ojo, 34 kilometre Yellow Line from Otta to National Theatre and the 48 kilometre Orange Line from Ikeja to Agbowa.
Oladeinde also pointed out that the renewed effort of the Government towards efficient traffic management through its law enforcement strategy has brought significant transformation to the transportation system. He added that 15 brand new vehicles, 30 motorbikes, 10 drones handed over to the Traffic Enforcement Teams; these aided the State in ramping up all avenues to reduce traffic congestions and improve safety on our roads.
He further disclosed that, the addition of 1,000 trained Officers deployed into active service of the State Traffic Management Authority, and the extension of their closing time from 7.00pm to 11.00pm as well as the 100% increment of their hazard allowance have renewed the traffic management capacity.
“The ongoing re-configuration of Lekki 1st/2nd Roundabouts, Abraham Adesanya, Allen Avenue, Ikotun and Maryland Roundabouts will increase vehicular capacity and the remodeled version of the improvement works will accommodate synchronized signalization that would separate streams of traffic and reduce congestions to the barest minimum.” the Commissioner affirmed
Oladeinde also described the commencement of the cashless tolling policy at the Lekki/Ikoyi Link Bridge as a ground breaking initiative which has drastically helped in reducing traffic queue length experienced on the corridor.
Further, the Commissioner revealed that while the State Government is working on implementing a First Mile and Last Mile (FMLM) mobility solution on 285 identified last mile routes, within the seven Bus Reform initiative zones across Lagos control centres have been set up at Ikeja Bus Terminal and LBSL Oshodi depot to improve bus efficiency while the LAMATA control center is currently being scaled up to accommodate the monitoring of BRT buses.
The Commissioner also disclosed that the administration has improved in the public transit system through the deployment of additional 165 buses to LBSL increasing their fleet to 215 buses at present which have been commuting more than 80,000 passengers daily.
Speaking further, the Commissioner affirmed that the acquisition of eight new boats for the Lagos State Ferry Services (LAGFERRY) to support the existing six in operation have significantly improved the capacity of Water transportation in the State as LAGFERRY now commutes an average of 800 passengers per day on all the designated routes. Also the Badore-Ajah Ferry Terminal in Eti-Osa Local Government has been activated to full operation.
In his closing remarks, the Commissioner urged residents and transport operators in the State to comply with the safety guidelines provided to curb further spread of covid-19 in the State, while also urging passengers to report any operator/company that does not comply to the State Monitoring Officers.
