Lagos To Invest In 900 kilometres Of SIDEWALKS Across The City

Lagos’ quest for transforming itself into a walking and cycling friendly city-state, has received a boost of 200,000 Euros from the German Government backed Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI).

In an email announcing the selection of the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority’s (LAMATA) entry, Daniel Moser, Management Head of TUMI, said “out of all the applications we picked the most innovative and your project was one of them! We are pleased to inform you that you are a winning candidate of the first TUMI Global Urban Mobility Challenge 2018.”

The award was presented to LAMATA’s representatives, Deputy Director , Corporate and Investment Planning, Mr. Uthman Obafemi Shitta-Bey and Corporate Legal Secretary, Mrs. Oluwaseun Sonoiki in Leipzig, Germany.

LAMATA’s entry, entitled “The Lagos Sidewalk Challenge” detailed the importance of walking as the primary and one of the zero carbon modes of transport in Lagos, which is accessible to the young and old, rich and poor and underpins the value, efficiency and financial viability of Nigeria’s transport system.

City With Sidewalks




In order to make walking the mode of choice in Lagos, the state government through LAMATA agreed on an ambitious new non-motorised transport policy in October 2017, developed with the support of the UN Environment led Share the Road Programme. The state government is committed to make walking and cycling within the city safe and convenient, by investing in sidewalks and cycle lanes.

Managing Director of LAMATA, Engr. Abiodun Dabiri said the grant was a recognition of the huge work Governor Akinwunmi Ambode was doing in the public transport sector which made provision for pedestrian walkways and cycling.

Carly Koinange, the Global Programme Lead for the Share the Road programme said “it is so exciting to hear Lagos have won this grant. It’s another step in the right direction as about 40% transport trips daily are through walking and cycling and there is the to ensure those involved can do so safely and conveniently. We look forward to supporting the State Government with this great project”.

“The Lagos Sidewalk Challenge” plans to apply new innovative tools to assess existing walkability and steer investment to improving some of the most walked areas of Lagos to consistent quality standards to benefit pedestrians.

Lagos, which currently hosts about 15 per cent of Africa’s population of more than 1.2 billion inhabitants and is regarded as a pioneer of future city thinking throughout Africa, is expected to witness visible transformation in sidewalks safety, accessibility and attractiveness.

In particular, the new Ikeja Bus Terminal near the Lagos airport and the central business district on Lagos Island will be used as showcase of Nigeria’s commitment to the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG).

On a global scale, the project will accelerate the delivery of a safer more people-centred transport system in Lagos and indeed, Nigeria, by creating new and more adequate, safe and protected walking environments at some of the most walked places in the city to benefit women, children and the needs of the elderly and physically disadvantaged.

Under the “The Lagos Sidewalk Challenge” project, sidewalk will be created in the most walked part of Lagos Island CBD and in the busy of State capital’s leading to the new bus station, Ikeja Bus Terminal.

To achieve reasonable access for public transport and NMT users and stabilise the use of personal motor vehicles, Lagos State Government has acknowledged that it would need to build at least 470 kilometres of Mass Rapid Transit network, 900 kilometres of footpaths and 300 kilometres of cycle tracks as well as adopt measures to check horizontal sprawl and promote transit-oriented land uses.

Within the next 15 years, Lagos State Government aims for the modal share of walking and cycling to increase to at least 50 per cent of all trips, public transport and para-transit trips to constitute 90 per cent of all motorised trips and all streets with a right of way of 12 metres or more have sidewalks and all street with a right of way under 12 metres having a sidewalk on one side and/or traffic calming measures.

“The Lagos NMT policy presents a complete paradigm shift from existing development patterns toward a transport system that prioritises walking, cycling and public transport as a viable alternatives to car use,” the entry stated.

http://thenationonlineng.net/lagos-innovative-plans-for-walking-gets-200000-euros-grant/

Other states need to learn from this. Enough of the primitive building of roads with open gutters and no sidewalks.

Very nice initiative....I hope all these ideas and projects come together to make Lagos one of Africa's smart cities.

While this is very very commendable , I know it will lead to controversy , road expansion means houses and shops will be demolished


Watch out for protests up and down soon

EVarn:
Very nice initiative....I hope all these ideas and projects come together to make Lagos one of Africa's smart cities.

Sidewalks can make or break a city. If you lack them, it discourages tourism. Tourist LOVE to walk. And no one is prepared to walk on any careless surface that is not well built and designated.

Lack of sidewalks hampers business and commerce, as people cannot engage in window shopping, which leads to impulse buying. Can you imagine if say Allen Avenue was like that pic above? One could spend a whole day on it, just strolling in and out of all the fancy shops on that street.. Today you can't do that. Open gutters everywhere, no sidewalk. Sand on the road. You have to drive in a car or you might even fall into a gutter while walking. So this is a very welcome initiative by the Lagos state govt. It will transform the appearance - and image - of the city.

RevenGeMission:
While this is very very commendable , I know it will lead to controversy , road expansion means houses and shops will be demolished


Watch out for protests up and down soon

The state government must ruthlessly crush all dissent to the programme. The interest of the wider society supersedes that of private individuals and businesses.

That's good

Watch out for those beggers and petty traders that will flood the sidewalks to take position.

When the Govt tries to evict them, they'll scream "Victimization" and paint them as insensitivity to the plight of the poor.

ba7man:
Watch out for those beggers and petty traders that will flood the sidewalks to take position.

When the Govt tries to evict them, they'll scream "Victimization" and paint them as insensitivity to the plight of the poor.

that was before, people are more enlighten now real development don't come without compromise

ba7man:
Watch out for those beggers and petty traders that will flood the sidewalks to take position.

When the Govt tries to evict them, they'll scream "Victimization" and paint them as insensitivity to the plight of the poor.

The government should simply FINE anybody found selling items or parking their cars on a sidewalk. Such fines generate millions of dollars each month for municipal governments in many countries. Simply employ thousands of uniformed street wardens that will be going around and inspecting the roads for any violations. It''s a whole industry and income generation/ job creation method, the traffic enforcement sector.

Will be very happy to see this, I've always thought about sidewalks whenever I trek on some roads without sidewalks or some with open gutters. I think it'll bring sanity to d city since people won't drag road with motorists.

Another thing LASG needs to do is to ban road-side trading, those ones are another menace in d city, their spots can be used for d sidewalks while the traders are moved into markets.

I really appreciate d ongoing green initiative in d state, trees are being planted across d state and unused areas are converted to parks n garden.

Rossikki:


The state government must ruthlessly crush all dissent to the programme. The interest of the wider society supersedes that of private individuals and businesses.

Lagos needs the ruthless approach of El-Rufai at Abuja

Please Lagos is extremely dirty, it's an eyesore to see trash everywhere. Something should be done about that first.