By Olasunkanmi Akoni

Since the start of his administration in May 2019,  Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has maintained his commitment to bringing the Blue and Red Line projects to fruition during the lifetime of his government as part of efforts to tackle the menace of gridlock and waste of man-hours in Lagos.

Transportation and mobility, like housing, waste management and insecurity, are the faces of rapid global urbanization that need to be effectively managed in order to deliver prosperity in the world’s mega cities, and urban Smart City centers like Lagos State.

Intermodal transport system, road, rail and water, which is the ability to connect one form of transportation to another, is one of the many options that cities are considering or implementing depending on their level of development.

Giving priority to the sector, Sanwo-Olu’s first pillar of his developmental agenda, themed, ‘THEMES’, is traffic management and transportation, with others as health and environment, education and technology, making Lagos a 21st century economy, entertainment and tourism as well as security and governance which his administration has been vigorously in pursuit.

A research by the Financial Derivatives Company (FDC) Limited revealed that every Lagos resident would have spent over 60 years in traffic by the time they clock 55 years.

The state has one of the worst traffic gridlock in the world, as commuters spend avoidable hours on the road, losing a significant part of their productive time before arriving at their destinations.

FDC, led by economist, Mr. Bismarck Rewane, also highlighted in the report published in January economic outlook for 2022, that while Lagos residents spend 1,080 hours in traffic a year, residents of London spend about 148 hours.

Background

Lagos Rail Mass Transit is an urban rail managed by Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority, LAMATA.

The first phase of the network, the Blue Line, was planned to complete in 2011, though the scheme suffered many delays brought by funding shortfalls and government changes. In February 2021, the Lagos government revealed that the Blue and Red Lines will be opened by December 2022. The Lagos rapid transit plan started in 1983 with the metroline network developed by the Jakande administration. But the project was scrapped in 1985 by the Buhari regime at a loss of more than $78 million to Lagos taxpayers.

The idea to develop Lagos Rail Mass Transit was revived by Governor Bola Tinubu in 2000s with the construction set in December 2003. The first proposal worth $135 million was part of the wider Lagos Urban Transportation scheme. LAMATA earlier concentrated on creating a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, running between Mile 12 and Lagos Island. LAMATA decided to progress with the rail scheme later in 2008, focusing on the Blue and Red Lines.

In 2009, construction started on the Blue Line as LAMATA revealed that it would get H5-series subway trains used by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC).The project was projected to gulp US$2.4 billion.

Sen. Idris Umar, then-Transport Minister, revealed the funding during the Right of Way (ROW) handing over event that took place in Abuja for the construction of the Iddo-Agbado Corridor.

In line with the report issued by then Minister for Transport, the MTTS Red line will be responsible for moving a massive number of persons in a day from Agbado to Marina axis. About 500, 000 passengers are expected to be conveyed on the line daily when the first phase is completed.

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The project is supported by the government of the United Kingdom.

London Mayor Alderman Alan Yarrow led a London business delegation on a round-table meeting to discuss the progress of the project.

The Blue Line project is estimated to run on six rail lines, 14 BRT lanes, three cable car projects, 20 waterway routes and one mono rail.

Intervention

Meanwhile, on Thursday, April 15, 2021, history was made with Sanwo-Olu breaking the ground for the construction of the 37-km Rail Mass Transit Red Line, which will traverse from Agbado to Marina.

The rail corridor is scheduled to be constructed in three phases. The first phase (Agbado-Iddo), to be completed in 24 months, will share track with the Federal Government’s Lagos-Ibadan Railway Modernization Project up to Ebute – Metta. It will have a dedicated track from Ebute–Metta to Oyingbo and reduce travel time from about two and a half hours to just 35 minutes.

The ceremony was held at the proposed site of the Ikeja Train Station. It was witnessed by Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, who was represented by the Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Bashir Jamoh.

To be fully operational in the last quarter of 2022, the Red Line will have eight train stations – from Agbado to Oyingbo.

However, with N153 billion in the kitty as earmarked in the 2022 budget, the governor is implementing the Red and Blue Rail Line projects simultaneously.

On January 14, 2022, Sanwo-Olu announced that the projects are on course for completion in the fourth quarter of the year.He spoke after inspecting the ongoing works at Ikeja, Yaba, Ebute Metta, and Marina stations of the projects.

According to him, there were significant improvements in construction works at the stations compared to the last time he was there in September 2020.

At the Ikeja Station for example, which will be the main iconic station for the Red Line project, the works were at the foundation level in September 2020 but at the second visit at the second-floor level, on the way to the third floor, which is the final floor.

The road works at Ikeja, as well as the overpass from Obafemi Awolowo to Agege Motor Road, were also well underway.

At the Yaba site, the contractors were on the second floor in line with the marching order to keep to the timelines while the Ebute-Metta Station was far ahead of delivery considering that the contractors had already finished the carcass of the station.

Commitment

“Our promise on the Red and Blue Line Rail projects remains”, he said.“We believe that by the end of this year we will see the trains on top of the tracks. That is our commitment and we will begin to monitor and check ourselves to make sure that that happens.“It is a very iconic and landmark project that we are truly proud of, and on behalf of the government, I want to commend all of our contractors for their commitment.

“They have assured us that they will complete all of the projects on schedule and on budget, whatever it takes”.

Sanwo-Olu has, in the meantime, moved closer to delivering on the projects when he announced the conclusion of a deal with Patentes Talgo, SAU, a Spanish manufacturer of intercity, standard, and high-speed passenger trains, commonly known as Talgo, for the acquisition of the company’s two new 330kmp intra-city metropolitan trains with a total of 10 cars for use at the 37 kilometers Red Line project.

The deal was concluded inside the Milwaukee facilities of the Spanish train manufacturer in the presence of Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, Dr. Frederic Oladeinde, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Works, Eng. Aramide Adeyoye, and LAMATA Managing Director, Eng. Abimbola Akinajo.Sanwo-Olu said they inspected the trains and saw their configuration, saying they were certain that they (the trains) will fit into the tracks of the Red Line.

“A train is not something you can just go and pick up on the shelf”, he said.“We are extremely lucky to get these brand new trains that are beautifully white and red in color, coincidentally, the rail line is called Red Line.

“We are just going to brand the trains and put up our seal on them, and we hope that this (purchase of the trains) will be the beginning of a mutually beneficial business relationship with Talgo”.The governor restated that the first phase of the Red Line will begin operations by the last quarter of 2022 or the first quarter of 2023.

In a related development, Sanwo-Olu, on Wednesday, January 26, disclosed that his administration had acquired three additional trains for the Blue Line project.

The governor spoke at the flag-off of the construction of Ojota-Opebi Link Bridge and Approach to Roads project. The revived project had been abandoned since conception over 20 years ago.

He explained that the three trains were in addition to the two sets of the Talgo trains for Lagos Red Line rail project which are due to arrive the state soon.

The governor stressed that the project was in line with his administration’s commitment to traffic management and transportation of the THEMES developmental agenda and the State Strategic Transport Master Plan, STMP, to evolve and enhance integrated urban mass transportation system, using road, waterway and rail infrastructure to move over 20 million residents within and around the city.“It’s all about ensuring that we can build our economy; people can move from one location to another and businesses can grow”, Sanwo-Olu stated.

“We recognize the strategic importance of road infrastructure to sustainable development, which explains our administration’s focus on the provision of road infrastructure to achieve some pre-conceived targets like reduced travel time on our roads (by saving important man-hours that would have been otherwise lost to traffic); enhanced inter connectivity; provision of better riding surface; and elimination of traffic gridlock while generally making life more meaningful to commuters in Lagos State”.

Vanguard News Nigeria