plaindealer:







There are many challenges facing this project that ignorant people like you won't bother to study or consider, but you prefer to go on and on about rumors, gossips and made up stories and innuendoes.

Shouldn't the govt have obtained right of way from land owners and govt agencies?
Should the cost of paying landlords be factored into the initial cost of building it?
Pls stop insulting our intelligence

novaman:
Nigerian Journalist and sensational headlines for to sell Paper. This journalist was quick to make comparison with Ethiopia since we are all Africans but forgot to state that even in the same state, the same distance in different directions could cost different amounts due to the different topography of the terrain.

I took time to study the Ethiopia light rail and discovered that apart from the elevated track like the one in Lagos, there is no part of the project where they needed to construct a bridge over Lagoon and that cost quite a lot but the difference in the total contract sum could be significant.

The length of the elevated track could be an additional cost. So comparison should be eliminated in the discussion completely.

We should focus more on the reason for the delay and ask why it cost that much. The reporter should be able to cost the Chinese government and companies for more details, who know maybe the problem and delays could be from them.

So why did the chinese construction firm quote $182 million in their financial report as the cost of the project. If Lagos state government is really interested in being accountable they should once and for all publish the real cost of the project their silence simply mean they are hiding something.

obynzo:


That is an outright lie. The Ethiopian light rail is the most challenging as it passes through very high peaks and mountain ranges and the very dangerous blue Nile gorge the largest and longest river gorge in Africa is along the rail track.

You are lying and you are not a rail engineer, you are not the contractor and you don't know anything about the project and you definitely don't know even the type of soil or rock formation they have in Ethiopia.

Lagos is flat table land and the water ways is no challenge at all. If you look at what they did yo avoid the issue of sand filling the built bridges. So that doesn't explain why the contract was awarded for $1.2bn and in the contractors financial books it is valued at $182million. Please let us stop looking for an excuse to justify corruption.

lol at water is no challenge and flat tableland.

Iganmu is a waterlogged swamp.

You don't know Lagos so why bother to open mouth at all.

NGpatriot:


You are lying and you are not a rail engineer, you are not the contractor and you don't know anything about the project and you definitely don't know even the type of soil or rock formation they have in Ethiopia.





lol at water is no challenge and flat tableland.

Iganmu is a waterlogged swamp.

You don't know Lagos so why bother to open mouth at all.

Bros I was born and brought up in Lagos. I know Iganmu like the palm of my hand there is nothing in that road and rail project to make it cost 1.2 billion dollars i studied Engineering so i know a lot about road and rail construction and i will tell you for fact that the Ethiopian rail is more challenging than the Lagos light rail. Now i ask again why can the government be transparent enough to release the contract papers if they are not hiding anything?

obynzo:


Bros I was born and brought up in Lagos. I know Iganmu like the palm of my hand there is nothing in that road and rail project to make it cost 1.2 billion dollars i studied Engineering so i know a lot about road and rail construction and i will tell you for fact that the Ethiopian rail is more challenging than the Lagos light rail. Now i ask again why can the government be transparent enough to release the contract papers if they are not hiding anything?

You obviously know nothing about the project since all you keep talking about is rail project when in fact it's more than a rail project, it's a combination of a 10 lane freeway, BRT lane, a metro rail and a metro bridge over Lagos lagoon.

You can not tell me anything about Ethiopia because you don't know anything about the project in Ethiopia unless you have a detailed contract with the required specifications from A-Z.

You can not dispute figures based on your lay man's knowledge without contract specifications. Shouting billion here and there doesn't mean you know the cost of every item specified in that contract.

It's perfectly OK to have an opinion, but you don't have facts, you don't have contracts stating what was ordered, required, paid out in compensations and so on.

There's a difference between real facts and word of mouth assertions with no proof.

Again, Ethiopia built a common metro rail, but Lagos is building a combination of a 10 lane freeway, BRT lane, a metro rail and a metro bridge over. Lagos lagoon.

Read and understand before comparing.

seguno2:
What has to be done for this to happen

Good question.
Please mention me when he answers.
Thanks.

NGpatriot:
You obviously know nothing about the project since all you keep talking about is rail project when in fact it's more than a rail project, it's a combination of a 10 lane freeway, BRT lane, a metro rail and a metro bridge over Lagos lagoon.

You can not tell me anything about Ethiopia because you don't know anything about the project in Ethiopia unless you have a detailed contract with the required specifications from A-Z.

You can not dispute figures based on your lay man's knowledge without contract specifications. Shouting billion here and there doesn't mean you know the cost of every item specified in that contract.

It's perfectly OK to have an opinion, but you don't have facts, you don't have contracts stating what was ordered, required, paid out in compensations and so on.

There's a difference between real facts and word of mouth assertions with no proof.

Again, Ethiopia built a common metro rail, but Lagos is building a combination of a 10 lane freeway, BRT lane, a metro rail and a metro bridge over. Lagos lagoon.

Read and understand before comparing.

You obviously did not read the OP part below.
Was that because the patriot knows everything already and so does not need to read

Gracealone:
Second, the China Railway Construction Company (CRCC), contractors of the light rail project, in its 2010 report, put the cost as $182 million. Why is this so?

Nigerians, claiming to be patriot or not claiming to be, deserve our rogue leaders seeing as we defend their stealing of our commonwealth, the same way that barawo bubu defends Abacha's loot-o-crazy!


www.nairaland.com/attachments/3084794_DumbPeople_jpg287f2b4d3ead2f536f99f92cbca9c590

anonimi:


You obviously did not read the OP part below.

Was that because the patriot knows everything already and so does not need to read

You ignorantly assumed that we are the same and that I swallow baseless and unsubstantiated claims without facts just like you.

Were you shown any fact or credible evidence by the OP? No, you are just another gullible and misguided reader swallowing internet write-ups left and right.

This article comes across as a hit piece. The Lagos light rail project is funded by a world bank loan
The loan has to be guaranteed by the FG and different tranches / stages. The second stage approval was delayed by GEJs administration.

There was also a long delay because of a pond pipeline that had to be diverted

There have been multiple issues with CCECC, because they are the cheapest vendor engaged , the profit margins are very narrow, and so CCECC is very mean when there are variation issues.

As to the high cost of the road, it is being built along a developed area. That on its own will lead to project delays. There was a decades old rubbish dump outside of FESTAC at Alakija. Rubbish and peat had to be evacuated and the whole area sand filled.

Every site legally in the way of the construction that was demolished has to be compensated. That is residences and commercial buildings.

I know most of this because I worked in a project along the road and we were very interested in knowing the projected date of completion

The whole dollar Wahala has also not helped the project. Project was signed when naira was 110 to the dollar. At a point it was over 500. Now it is 365. All these issues have to be reviewed, and the variations can be huge and difficult to resolve.

There are lot of punchlines to be taken home here: Ethiopia spent $475 for 34km while Lagos spent $1.2BN for 27km whereas CCRC recorded $184M in their book, Lagos state is a mess since the time of Fashola till Ambode regime & they don't like releasing their financial reports, another party shd just win Lagos state

Qoko:
There are lot of punchlines to be taken home here: Ethiopia spent $475 for 34km while Lagos spent $1.2BN for 27km whereas CCRC recorded $184M in their book, Lagos state is a mess since the time of Fashola till Ambode regime & they don't like releasing their financial reports, another party shd just win Lagos state

Where is the book? Have you seen it? No, just another gullible soul.

anonimi:


You obviously did not read the OP part below.
Was that because the patriot knows everything already and so does not need to read



Nigerians, claiming to be patriot or not claiming to be, deserve our rogue leaders seeing as we defend their stealing of our commonwealth, the same way that barawo bubu defends Abacha's loot-o-crazy!


www.nairaland.com/attachments/3084794_DumbPeople_jpg287f2b4d3ead2f536f99f92cbca9c590

I have also been giving the LASG benefit of the doubt for a long time after knowing about the Ethiopian project, until this OpEd.
The guy deliberately confusing the Light Rail Project with Badagry Expressway is just playing politics.

dolphinife:
Very disheartening I say. I'm not exonerating Fashola and Ambode of this monumental fraud, nor am I exalting corruption, but I think the reason Lagos Rail line is much more expensive is because it passes through the water ways. I might be wrong tho

I think as much also, and the soil typography of lagos - which corrodes materials, practically 1/3 of the infrastructure is suspended in the air - they should just find a way to conclude the project sha

SocialJustice:
Na why you no fit progress for life.

See Oloriburuku ni awon to ni eee ni?

ornicus:
This article comes across as a hit piece. The Lagos light rail project is funded by a world bank loan
The loan has to be guaranteed by the FG and different tranches / stages. The second stage approval was delayed by GEJs administration.

There was also a long delay because of a pond pipeline that had to be diverted

There have been multiple issues with CCECC, because they are the cheapest vendor engaged , the profit margins are very narrow, and so CCECC is very mean when there are variation issues.

As to the high cost of the road, it is being built along a developed area. That on its own will lead to project delays. There was a decades old rubbish dump outside of FESTAC at Alakija. Rubbish and peat had to be evacuated and the whole area sand filled.

Every site legally in the way of the construction that was demolished has to be compensated. That is residences and commercial buildings.

I know most of this because I worked in a project along the road and we were very interested in knowing the projected date of completion

The whole dollar Wahala has also not helped the project. Project was signed when naira was 110 to the dollar. At a point it was over 500. Now it is 365. All these issues have to be reviewed, and the variations can be huge and difficult to resolve.

The LAMATA’s Head of Media and Communications, Mr Kolawole Ojelabi, said in Lagos that the project was stopped for almost three years because of various problems of obstruction on the RoW.

“We have given different completion dates for the project but one of the challenges that we had was that the train was originally to go to the Iddo Railway Terminus but the Railway Act did not allow us to do such.

“Since we could not take the train station to Iddo, we had to change the alignment, and in changing that, there were a lot of obstructions on the way.

“For instance, there is a fertiliser plant around Ijora belonging to the Federal Government; we had to negotiate to use their compound so that we could take away their warehouse. We had to build another warehouse for them.

“Around Ijora too, there was a mosque that we had to demolish and build another one.

“Then moving into the lagoon, there were two major challenges: there was the relocation of gas link, a gas pipe underneath the lagoon, which also took some time.

“We also discovered that there was the wreckage of a ship that was at the bottom of the lagoon, that also had to be removed. These delayed the time line for the delivery of the project

https://punchng.com/lagos-light-rail-to-begin-operation-in-2022/
.

Imagine, they rebuilt demolished fertilizer warehouse, the rebuilt demolished mosques, relocate pipelines and so on.

The had to do this in Ethiopia too? Is this comparable to Ethiopia?

This is how these fake and useless news media miseducate gullible and ignorant youths.

gud day, pls i seriously need a job, i am a graduate of accounting (hnd) 07037799108

j

The rail is full of fraud and lasgi scam rt from beginning, I could remember Late Prof Pius article on the project.

Line 1 of the Mumbai Metro, or the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar Line, is part of the metro system for the city of Mumbai, India. The 11.40 km line is fully elevated, and consists of 12 stations from Versova to Ghatkopar. The line connects the eastern and western suburbs of Mumbai.[1] It was built at an estimated cost of ₹4,321 crore (US$630 million)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_1_(Mumbai_Metro)

Ethiopia/$475 million for 34km

Mumbai/$630 million for 11km


So, please explain to us why Mumbai spent more than Ethiopia on ordinary 11km?

Does it mean the people in Mumbai engaged in fraud and looted funds too?

You see how it's dumb and silly to make dumb comparison without facts and details?

NGpatriot:
The had to do this in Ethiopia too? Is this comparable to Ethiopia?

This is how these fake and useless news media miseducate gullible and ignorant youths.

It's obvious you are paid to support this rogue government, but please use your conscience and tell your paymasters to make your job easier by publishing the contract papers let us know the true value of the project, because am yet to understand how a project that is in a areas with less challenging rock formation and stable souls would be more expensive than a project that is in a highly elevated terrain with a very dangerous gorge so dangerous that the only structure there till the advent of the project was an aqueduct built in the sixth century AD

NGpatriot:



Ethiopia/$475 million for 34km

Mumbai/$630 million for 11km


So, please explain to us why Mumbai spent more than Ethiopia on ordinary 11km?

Does it mean the people in Mumbai engaged in fraud and looted funds too?

You see how it's dumb and silly to make dumb comparison without facts and details?

Please tell your paymasters to make your job easier by making public knowledge the contract papers, please let us have conscience these people you are supporting have mortgaged the future of our children think about the future and fight for accountability of our leaders instead of supporting them for peanuts whereas you can have a bright future of you can stop this stealing so that the money can be judiciously used to the benefit of future generations.

Emceesaka:

See Oloriburuku ni awon to ni eee ni?

Hehehe, you know say na the truth I tell you.

NGpatriot:



Ethiopia/$475 million for 34km

Mumbai/$630 million for 11km


So, please explain to us why Mumbai spent more than Ethiopia on ordinary 11km?

Does it mean the people in Mumbai engaged in fraud and looted funds too?

You see how it's dumb and silly to make dumb comparison without facts and details?

Bros easy with the lies the Mumbai metro is not fully completed.

The Mumbai Metro is a rapid transit system serving the city of Mumbai, Maharashtra, and the wider metropolitan region. The system is designed to reduce traffic congestion in the city, and supplement the overcrowded Mumbai Suburban Railway (colloquially called local trains) network. It is being built in three phases over a 15-year period, with overall completion expected in 2025. When completed, the core system will comprise eight high-capacity metro railway lines, spanning a total of 235 kilometres (146 mi) (24% underground, the rest elevated, with a minuscule portion built at-grade), and serviced by 200 stations.

NGpatriot:



Ethiopia/$475 million for 34km

Mumbai/$630 million for 11km


So, please explain to us why Mumbai spent more than Ethiopia on ordinary 11km?

Does it mean the people in Mumbai engaged in fraud and looted funds too?

You see how it's dumb and silly to make dumb comparison without facts and details?

Can you please explain why the construction company stated $180m instead of $1.2bn in their annual report?

Lagos really needs rail service, Lagosians are suffering and developing terrible health conditions because of the stress of daily commute.

8 million passengers daily is something investors can not turn their faces away from. Imagine this light rail serves just 3 million people daily at N500, that's N1bn daily revenue. What exactly is the problem? I have so many opportunities in Lagos to make money but traffic will not let me leave my small town.

dolphinife:
Very disheartening I say. I'm not exonerating Fashola and Ambode of this monumental fraud, nor am I exalting corruption, but I think the reason Lagos Rail line is much more expensive is because it passes through the water ways. I might be wrong tho

Why then has it not been completed

[s]

obynzo:


Please tell your paymasters to make your job easier by making public knowledge the contract papers, please let us have conscience these people you are supporting have mortgaged the future of our children think about the future and fight for accountability of our leaders instead of supporting them for peanuts whereas you can have a bright future of you can stop this stealing so that the money can be judiciously used to the benefit of future generations.

[/s]

Stop barking, this is not a barking match, it's just an ordinary discussion.

You are entitled to your opinion, but your opinion without facts is rubbish.

NGpatriot:
[s][/s]

Stop barking, this is not a barking match, it's just an ordinary discussion.

You are entitled to your opinion, but your opinion without facts is rubbish.

Bros am not barking, and why are you getting all aggressive. Isn't it obvious that you are laundering the image of this government because I can't fathom why any reasonable person will still want to defend this scam of a project in the face of glaring evidence to the contrary

SocialJustice:
Can you please explain why the construction company stated $180m instead of $1.2bn in their annual report?

Lagos really needs rail service, Lagosians are suffering and developing terrible health conditions because of the stress of daily commute.

8 million passengers daily is something investors can not turn their faces away from. Imagine this light rail serves just 3 million people daily at N500, that's N1bn daily revenue. What exactly is the problem? I have so many opportunities in Lagos to make money but traffic will not let me leave my small town.

The OP and the useless article said the rail project in Lagos and the one in Ethiopia are the same, so how come the cost of the project in Lagos is almost 3 times less than the same comparable project in Ethiopia?

So, going by your logic, it means the people in Ethiopia either over budget, engaged in fraud and looted funds.

If you truly believe that the cost of the project in Lagos is $182 million, then the stole money in Ethiopia for spending almost 3 times more than Lagos on the comparable project in Lagos.

Fact is, these projects and contracts are awarded in phases and I suspect the $182 was for a specific phase, the fact that the overall price tag for the entire project including the 10 lane freeway is $1.3 billion doesn't mean the whole project cost $182 million.

This is pretty much common sense.

Now, do you see how contradictory, illogical and comical the OP and the gullible people swallowing the tales are?

dolphinife:
Very disheartening I say. I'm not exonerating Fashola and Ambode of this monumental fraud, nor am I exalting corruption, but I think the reason Lagos Rail line is much more expensive is because it passes through the water ways. I might be wrong tho

But why can't they transparent about the contract issue

obynzo:


Bros am not barking, and why are you getting all aggressive. Isn't it obvious that you are laundering the image of this government because I can't fathom why any reasonable person will still want to defend this scam of a project in the face of glaring evidence to the contrary

You are the one getting aggressive and insulting by going on and on about paymaster paying me peanuts for my future.

Comppose yourself and argue with sane logic instead of insults and emotions.

obynzo:


Bros easy with the lies the Mumbai metro is not fully completed.

The Mumbai Metro is a rapid transit system serving the city of Mumbai, Maharashtra, and the wider metropolitan region. The system is designed to reduce traffic congestion in the city, and supplement the overcrowded Mumbai Suburban Railway (colloquially called local trains) network. It is being built in three phases over a 15-year period, with overall completion expected in 2025. When completed, the core system will comprise eight high-capacity metro railway lines, spanning a total of 235 kilometres (146 mi) (24% underground, the rest elevated, with a minuscule portion built at-grade), and serviced by 200 stations.

Line 1 of the Mumbai Metro, or the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar Line, is part of the metro system for the city of Mumbai, India. The 11.40 km line is fully elevated, and consists of 12 stations from Versova to Ghatkopar. The line connects the eastern and western suburbs of Mumbai.[1] It was built at an estimated cost of ₹4,321 crore (US$630 million)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_1_(Mumbai_Metro)

They spent $630 million on 11km, yes or no?