netotse:

your point was that nigerians would pay the toll if they went abroad isn't it? i'm not against the toll in any form, my point is that the way the LASG went about it leaves A WHOLE LOT to be desired, why would you start collecting a toll when there's still K-leg about the alternative route? that's my major beef with this whole issue.

^^no probs.

^^^^ people living in Lekki area are not alien what happens overseas, what they are asking is some equity and fairness,  these people are major income tax contributors to Lagos state, with 20% total emoluments taxation, some of these people pay more much as N5 - 8m per year, anyone who makes above N5m pays N1m to LASG, that in an area without any state public amenities apart from road. no public water etc.

Tolling should be reasonable, not three within 20 km and there should be alternative routes, so that people take toll roads by choice. that is what is obtainable in the so called "Overseas".

Remii:

^^^^ people living in Lekki area are not alien what happens overseas, what they are asking is some equity and fairness,  these people are major income tax contributors to Lagos state, with 20% total emoluments taxation, some of these people pay more much as N5 - 8m per year, anyone who makes above N5m pays N1m to LASG, that in an area without any state public amenities apart from road. no public water etc.

Tolling should be reasonable, not three within 20 km and there should be alternative routes, so that people take toll roads by choice. that is what is obtainable in the so called "Overseas".

didn't know that. . .no wonder the thing dey pain them, if i dey shell out a cool million in taxes e go hard me o. . .

more about where we're supposed to be:





Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel





The "Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel" or "SMART Tunnel",  is a storm drainage and road structure in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, a major national project in the country. The 9.7 km (6.0 miles) tunnel is the longest stormwater tunnel in South East Asia and second longest in Asia.

The main objective of this tunnel is to solve the problem of flash floods in Kuala Lumpur and also to reduce traffic jams . . . during rush hour




How SMART Tunnel works

First mode (Normal conditions)

The first mode, under normal conditions where there is no storm, no flood water will be diverted into the system.



Second mode (Most storms)

When the second mode is activated, flood water is diverted into the bypass tunnel in the lower channel of the motorway tunnel. The motorway section is still open to traffic at this stage.



Third mode (Major storms)

When this mode is in operation, the motorway will be closed to all traffic. After making sure all vehicles have exited the motorway, automated water-tight gates will be opened to allow flood waters to pass through. The motorway will be reopened to traffic within 48 hours of closure.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_Tunnel

Remii:

^^^^ people living in Lekki area are not alien what happens overseas, what they are asking is some equity and fairness,  these people are major income tax contributors to Lagos state, with 20% total emoluments taxation, some of these people pay more much as N5 - 8m per year, anyone who makes above N5m pays N1m to LASG, that in an area without any state public amenities apart from road. no public water etc.

Tolling should be reasonable, not three within 20 km and there should be alternative routes, so that people take toll roads by choice. that is what is obtainable in the so called "Overseas".

in the overseas I'm aware of, tolls are mandatory, not optional.

some of these people pay more much as N5 - 8m per year, anyone who makes above N5m pays N1m to LASG

same holds abroad.

the more you make, the higher your taxes.

not that i dont feel for people, but some things can be postponed, not avoided.

tpia1:


in the overseas I'm aware of, tolls are mandatory, not optional.

am aware that tollways such as Beltway 8, Katy, among others in Houston, TX have non tolling ways running parallel with them, the difference is that the "free" road has traffic lights and junctions that slow you down also enteries into Hardy tollway are clearly shown so that you enter it willingly.

@ tpia

Tolls on the roads abroad are made on newly constructed roads - your examples are NEWLY constructed, not refurbished roads already belonging to the government. That is the fundamental difference between what LASG is trying to do and what obtains elsewhere.

Secondly, alternate routes are always provided to tolled highways so yes, tolls are mandatory if you use the tolled highway, but the use of the tolled highway is optional, as other viable (but possibly more crowded) routes.

In our rush to quote 'overseas' let's make valid comparisons.

If a private firm builds railways in Lagos for urban transit, no one will argue if they choose to set their prices based on what it costs to make a profit on their investment. However, don't expect people to accept such a toll when the alternate routes are not viable.

debosky:

@ tpia

Tolls on the roads abroad are made on newly constructed roads - your examples are NEWLY constructed, not refurbished roads already belonging to the government. That is the fundamental difference between what LASG is trying to do and what obtains elsewhere.

Secondly, alternate routes are always provided to tolled highways so yes, tolls are mandatory if you use the tolled highway, but the use of the tolled highway is optional, as other viable (but possibly more crowded) routes.

In our rush to quote 'overseas' let's make valid comparisons.

If a private firm builds railways in Lagos for urban transit, no one will argue if they choose to set their prices based on what it costs to make a profit on their investment. However, don't expect people to accept such a toll when the alternate routes are not viable.

Abeg educate some of this people, they just come on here and spit half truths thinking they can get away with it.

@ Jacob123 , ajanlekoko n pifa n a couple others i cant remember their names now, made strong points while i could not comprehend tpia, babapupa n eku_bear's point of arguments.

i do not live at lekki axis but have clients n friends who do n are surely affected, as it is already causing mass relocation thereby causing increased rents in other parts of lagos, particularly the mainland.

the lekki axis of lagos is d only part of the state where "NO" govt infrastructure exist, i.e school, water,hospital,drainage. no naija adult would talk of electricity at this point in time. an average home runs his/her home/apartment from his/her private financial arrangement.

as a Solicitor involved in processing n procuring govt certification for clients on their properties, i make bold to state that on most if not all landed properties in lekki, the occupiers/owners pay some form of land charges [aside from income taxes] whether the property has/does not have govt certification[C of O or Gov's Consent].

for clarity land use charge/neighborhood improvement charge are meant for improvements supposed to be provided by govt to residents in this area which as at date are non-existence.

if after you pay land use charge/neighbourhood improvement charge for which you get nothing n income tax, u then imagine the insult call toll. the "average" private school in this area from creche grade is about N150k-250k annually for a toddler of 3 months and above.[point not d supposed "super"ones].

A LARGER % of working class naija's whom mostly are in their 30- mid 40"s who have not stolen or been enriched through fraudulent means would never grudge if things are done the way they ought to be, we always tend to use foreign examples to justify fraud, most of us will pay N10k or more per month if guaranteed of regular power, i dare say the highest i paid as sch fees through uni n i studied a professional course was N440 whilst d average private uni today is about N200k per session, cause our educational system has been destroyed to enrich some few, incidentally benefitted from free education.

d only toll part of lagos to date is the link btw d international and local airport area, question is how many ordinary naija people use that route, when you have atleast 2 viable alternate routes, some people will live n die in lagos n may never go through/use that road/toll

lekki-epe road is d only access road there is, even d oniru route is mainly plied by suv's n not suitable for normal cars except at d owners risk.

as all the foreign posters have stated the toll roads are on newly created routes not exsiting routes.

we who live n work in lagos naija are of the view that b4 tolls, there must be justification for all govt actions cause it affects the masses.


its frustrating, when suddenly a man who leaves next door to u with no means of livelyhood comes home with a car worth fricking millions by frontly 4 one politician milking people for his 50th generation yet unborn, thats the outcry!!!! not the toll

Tolls on the roads abroad are made on newly constructed roads - your examples are NEWLY constructed, not refurbished roads already belonging to the government. That is the fundamental difference between what LASG is trying to do and what obtains elsewhere.

all the foreign posters have stated the toll roads are on newly created routes not exsiting routes

not true.

the fact that most newly created highways are also toll roads, does not mean old roads cant be upgraded to become the same.

check toll roads in the west. Many are privately funded, and some were given out by the govt same as what LASG is doing here.





Officials debate making Route 30 a toll road

Efforts to revive the U.S. Route 30 project are running into the same problem as before: Lack of funding. But supporters believe making it a toll road could be the solution.

Committee Chairman Charles Lang told the port authority he believes turning Route 30 into a freeway would further open the county to economic development.


http://www.reviewonline.com/page/content.detail/id/536906/Officials-debate-making-Route-30-a-toll-road.html?nav=5008

btw, my reason for using the west [and malaysia] as a point of comparison in this instance, is their roads you all admire so much, while complaining about not having the same in nigeria, started from somewhere. They didnt just magically drop from the future.

as per declining to pay toll:

Toll avoidance: shunpiking

A practice known as shunpiking evolved which entails finding another route for the specific purpose of avoiding payment of tolls.

In some situations where the tolls were increased or felt to be unreasonably high, informal shunpiking by individuals escalated into a form of boycott by regular users, with the goal of applying the financial stress of lost toll revenue to the authority determining the levy.

One such example of shunpiking as a form of boycott occurred at the James River Bridge in eastern Virginia. After years of lower than anticipated revenues on the narrow privately-funded structure built in 1928, the Commonwealth of Virginia finally purchased the facility in 1949. However, rather than announcing a long-expected decrease in tolls, the state officials increased the rates in 1955 without visibly improving the roadway, with the notable exception of building a new toll plaza

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toll_roads_in_the_United_States

http://tt2.co.uk/

Tyne tunnel company website.

I think it's a waste of time arguing with people who live overseas concerning things that happen in Lagos. Especially those who haven't been to Nigeria in a long time and then post comments like "the toll gate is supposed to raise money, It's only 200 naira compare it to Houston, Bla bla". How do you toll the only road/expressway to the mainland. On an average day it takes 2 hours to get from lekki to Yaba. I know I was in the car and we did 2 hours back and forth. This is a journey that should take 40 minutes without traffic.

I shed tears for Naija, my heart bleeds for that country. People are suffering. We have a government that is not compassionate. I live at VGC and we spend 20,000 naira a week on diesel, ($133) + ( We already bought electricity 50,000 credit) But we have to run the generator every day. No infrastructure yet we pay taxes. When our Politicians travel abroad, they only copy methods that seek to extract more money from the people without giving them services in return.

Sad. Very Sad.

There seems to be a misconception that all people that live in the Lekki area are affluent and will be able to afford any tolls or levies imposed on them without breaking a sweat. I respect a government trying to develop infrastructure by private participation and concessioning but utlimately the government has to consider the socio-economic effect on the common man.

LCC keeps insisting that there will be an alternative route to the planned tolled expressway for road-users who want to avoid paying the toll but we all know that when the Nigerian factor comes into play, that "alternative road" would be more gridlocked than the road to Noah's ark.

Lekki is the more overrated place on planet earth, and yet the government wants to make it more expensive to live in. Please everyone should read this article, it is a fantastic read: http://woahnigeria./2010/11/02/pump-pump-and-the-scramble-for-lekki/

jchublue:

There seems to be a misconception that all people that live in the Lekki area are affluent and will be able to afford any tolls or levies imposed on them without breaking a sweat. I respect a government trying to develop infrastructure by private participation and concessioning but utlimately the government has to consider the socio-economic effect on the common man.

LCC keeps insisting that there will be an alternative route to the planned tolled expressway for road-users who want to avoid paying the toll but we all know that when the Nigerian factor comes into play, that "alternative road" would be more gridlocked than the road to Noah's ark.
Lekki is the more overrated place on planet earth, and yet the government wants to make it more expensive to live in. Please everyone should read this article, it is a fantastic read: http://woahnigeria./2010/11/02/pump-pump-and-the-scramble-for-lekki/

ROTFLMAO

tpia1:


not true.

the fact that most newly created highways are also toll roads, does not mean old roads cant be upgraded to become the same.

check toll roads in the west. Many are privately funded, and some were given out by the govt same as what LASG is doing here.


Officials debate making Route 30 a toll road

btw, my reason for using the west [and malaysia] as a point of comparison in this instance, is their roads you all admire so much, while complaining about not having the same in nigeria, started from somewhere. They didnt just magically drop from the future.





In every privately-financed toll road I know of, the construction was generally done as an adjunct to an existing government road. The Lagos state government got it backwards in their case: they are using taxpayers' money to construct an alternate route after giving taxpayers' road to a private enterprise to develop and toll for 30 years. Why not use the money they are spending on the alternate route to develop the Lekki road in the first place, and then toll it directly for the government? I can never be against allowing the investors to profit on their investment, but I get the impression that tolling the Lekki road was a back-room deal designed to steer business to the concessionaire.

@tpia, You don't seem to understand the issues here! No one is saying we shouldn't have good roads like Malaysia or any part of the world but this LCC tolling of Lekki-Epe way is a very dodgy arrangement! I thinkyou should read the italicized part above and try to make sense of it before you post more pictures of Malaysia and tell us more stories of America.

I will readily concede that we are protesing late in the game but who cares! If you plan to dupe and I found out just before I part with my money, even if you have spent your life savings on the project, I won't pity you, YOU JUST LOST!!!

I don't know what risk analysis the project financiers did but they mut be very foolish! This tolling can never survive outside of a controlled ACN government. If Fashola was a difficult Godson, LCC will already be in trouble. The project is so so so flawed. They have no design, you create special roads for people depending on who they know and what noise they can make!

The road that was there stood for over 20 years but this new one can't even last 5 years.

I don't know what stake you have in the project but even Fashola knows he's got trouble on his hands,

As an aside, I know in lekki, to perfect any your document for Governor's consent, you will spend an average of 500,000 naira (Lekki Phase 1 alone has 4,000 homes and VGC has around 2,000 homes!) not to talk of ~250k that is paid for land use charge in Lekki phase 1. For those who don't know, Lekki residents are already financing the road and we will not pay tolls on it.

Fashola should get ready for this battle, in our engagements with him we have seen the insincerity but we understand that his hands are tied but he should remember that PDP are waiting in the wings!!!

We may end up regretting voting PDP in office but this toll will not stand whatever it will take!!!

ndu_chucks:

. . . I suspect that no one will file a lawsuit against Fashola, in this case, because if the details of the contract becomes public, and the "sweetheart deal" is exposed, quite a few people will be embarassed, to say the least.

Actually, ndu_chucks, there is litigation pending on this matter.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/Metro/5635668-147/story.csp

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/Metro/5626546-147/story.csp

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/Metro/5637334-147/court_to_visit_lekki-epe_highway.csp

I “googled” the name of the presiding judge and found this:
http://www.thenigerianvoice.com/nvnews/41671//lawyer-wants-court-to-stop-toll-collection-on-lago.html
   
   
   
Officials have already talked about concessioning more roads in Lagos. I certainly hope they have learned from the Lekki episode and make sure the process is transparent and done the right way in the future.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5618111-146/story.csp

Pifa:

   
   


Actually, ndu_chucks, there is litigation pending on this matter.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/Metro/5635668-147/story.csp

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/Metro/5626546-147/story.csp

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/Metro/5637334-147/court_to_visit_lekki-epe_highway.csp

I “googled” the name of the presiding judge and found this:
http://www.thenigerianvoice.com/nvnews/41671//lawyer-wants-court-to-stop-toll-collection-on-lago.html
   
   
   
Officials have already talked about concessioning more roads in Lagos. I certainly hope they have learned from the Lekki episode and make sure the process is transparent and done the right way in the future.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5618111-146/story.csp
   
   

The case is still in court and one would have thought that the least Governor Fashola (A Senior Advocate of Nigeria) could do was to allow the court to rule before LCC is given permission to collect the tolls.

Feelers from the court case already shows that the Judge is compromised (no surprises afterall he's a Lagos state judge) but we will move to the APPEAL court and ultimately to the SUPREME court so LCC should prepare for a Looooooooooooong battle!

The contract details which Opuiyo, LCC and LASG are guarding jealously must come out in the open.

Most people are not aware that they are at liberty to increase the toll anytime and they will build more tolls in future if they expand beyond 23Km.

@Pifa, thanks for the links. It is instructive that Lagos State, a defendant in the lawsuit, did not wait for a ruling before suspending the toll. 

If nothing comes out of the lawsuit, I hope the details of the contract are revealed so that the public will understand the extent of the sweetheart provisions in the contract. 

I also hope that officials will learn from the current debacle and ensure that the process is transparent and done the right way in the future.

We just finished a peaceful protest at the Lekki Phase 1 roundabout this morning. It is heartwarming to see a couple of people park their cars and join us and also wanted to be part of future struggle.

There have been insinuations that we are being politically motivated so we had a couple of the chairmen of different estates along the road address the press. The Chairman of NICON TOWN and VGC estates representatives were there so if it's a matter of paying the money, these guys should have no problem.

Some of the community people felt that we should actually block the road (we did for a couple of minutes and the Police were supportive (of course they can't afford it too!!!) but we felt that we had passed our message across especially given the fact that FAshola was on TV yesterday to appeal to people not to protest and also sent a large number of police men to ensure there was no violence.

We noted that we have nothing against Fashola or LCC or even the construction but we are against fencing and tolling.

I MUST ADD THAT FASHOLA HAS A HUGE PROBLEM ON HIS HANDS FROM WHAT I SAW: THE ETI-OSA PEOPLE ARE READY TO DO ANYTHING TO ENSURE NO TOLLING. Tinubu may have bought their Obas and Chiefs but there is problem on the way coupled with the fact that PDP doesn't mind taking advantage of this opportunity.

Watch out for CHANNELS, STV, DBN and NTA!!!

A lot (not all though) of people who don't live in Nigeria just don't get it! People are reluctant to pay these tolls because we still don't have accountability in govt. You simply can't compare what obtains in USA/Europe/Asia to Nigeria. We have a tax rate of 25%, but almost no public utilities to show for it. You pay for your own power company, your own police (OPC, etc), your own water corporation, etc. Govt is almost inexistent other than to collect tax, bribes & now tolls. Why wont people protest?

In this specific case, the construction re-surfacing & addition of 1 extra lane to this 25km road has taken 4 years! Yet, only about 5km is completed. Now they want to introduce tolls at 3 points on the road. Please show me a similar case in the US, those of you who keep referring to USA.

With these kinda events all the time, why wont people resist paying tolls? They keep saying they're withdrawing money from the ECA for "infrastructure development". Abeg, where's the infrastructure?

http://www.thisdayonline.info/nview.php?id=191100

Excess Crude Account Shrinks to $3m
From James Emejo in Abuja, 12.31.2010
After an emergency meeting of the Federation Account Allocation Committee yesterday, the sum of $1billion was deducted from the Excess Crude Account and approved for distribution to the three tiers of government.

Yesterday’s deduction has reduced the balance in the Excess Crude Account, created to provide succour in rainy days to only about $3 million.

A rundown of the distribution of the $1 billion released after the meeting showed that the federal government received $458.31 million while the states shared $232 million. The local governments shared $179 million.
The remaining $130 million will be shared among the oil producing states based on the existing controversial derivative principle.

FAAC said latest disbursements are expected to be channelled to infrastructural development in different states.
Minister of State for Finance, Hajiya Yabawa Wabi said shortly after the meeting in Abuja that it made sense to disburse the votes to the states to enable them fund more developmental projects.

The minister said: “We are here because we got an approval to share $1bn from the ECA to the three tiers of government and this, we are doing because the ECA is a financing item in the 2010 budget of both the federal and state governments.

“As you are aware, the budget year has been extended to March 2011 by the National Assembly and that is why we need to share this amount to form part of the 2010 budget. Since only the capital budget was extended to March, the money will only be meant for capital projects. The money was approved by Mr. President. No other money was shared apart from this and the money has already been cash-backed.”

President Jonathan was said to have given in to pressure from state governors to share the $1 billion because the governors worry that most infrastructural projects in their respective areas have been stalled by lack of funds, a situation they argued could make their second term bids difficult.

It was learnt that the governors feared that their electorates might criticise them for under-performing and reneging on previous campaign promises.

Chairman, Commission-ers Forum, Alhaji Rebo Usman dismissed speculations that the amount shared may have been an end-of-the year bonuses to governors and other government officials.Said Usman: “We have to meet because there is no way we could share money without a meeting of FAAC members. That was why we had to hold this emergency meeting to take care of that decision that was taken by the National Economic Council.

“This money is not an end of year bonus. It is fund that belongs to the three tiers of government and the ECA is like savings. The governors believe that there is need to fund some on-going projects that are taken place both at the federal and state levels.
“So, it is normal that the money was taken at this time of the year to fund some of our operations. The ECA is an account that belongs to the three tiers of government and anytime we are in need, we have a right to use.

I forgot to add: does anyone here know how much LASG collects for CofO (Certificate of Occupancy) for a plot of land in the Lekki area? At least N650,000 in areas like Lekki phase 2. Lekki phase 1 is even higher. This is one of the many fees that LASG collects in addition to 25% income. Yet, the govt cannot provide these people with a road to their homes? People who keep comparing to other countries, abeg compare reasonably. I've lived in naija & outside and really some of the comments from peeps outside naija (or who don't know the specifics of Lekki) are just laughable.

Even in the West that so many people compare to, very few roads are actually tolled. I was in SoCal recently & didn't drive on a single tolled road. In UK, most roads aren't tolled. Why don't you guys compare to the Mid-East now? At least we have oil like them, yet they don't even pay income tax in most of their countries,

^^^^ there is also IDF ( Infrastucture Development Fee) payable on all new properties, apart from Title Perfection Fee which is 8 - 12 % of property value.

e. g. Each buyer of the newly refurbished 1004 flats paid N1.2m to LASG as IDF. Yet they still have to provide themselves all basic amenities. Only road is the "dividend" of governance to the people.

Interesting new posts. I guess it makes for us to see the exact terms of this deal so we can compare and contrast to the alternatives. Hopefully the pending lawsuits make the details public.

[quote="Pifa"]
With regard to California’s experiment with tolled freeways (notice I said freeways, not expressways), the demise of privately-funded freeways started around 2000 when a clause in the contractual agreement between Caltrans (California Department of Transportation) and the owners of the tolled section of SR91 in Riverside county was leaked to the public. The clause gave the owners of the tolled section the power to block Caltrans from making major improvements to the non-tolled section of SR91 (SR means State Route), which happened to be one of the most congested routes in California. The investors feared that competition from an improved government-owned section of the freeway would drive traffic away from the tolled section and deprive them of revenue. It was a legally problematic agreement that not only violated the American spirit of promoting completion, it bordered on what lawyers call “collusion”, and could possibly run head on into US anti-trust laws. The tolled portion of SR91 has since been taken over by a public agency after barely seven years of existence.
[/quote]
Alright.

How does this relate to the Lekki toll road? Read the clause in the agreement posted by kalokalo: https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-576642.96.html#msg7436825. It basically relives the investor of risk! All investments carry a certain amount of risk. When you remove that risk with guarantees of return regardless of how the investor executes, you create an environment for laxity.  I do not know Nigerian contract law. But in our contract law, this is known as a ”sweetheart deal” or a “one-sided contract” .  It is a legal concept recognized even in English Contract Law, which forms the basis of contract laws across the Commonwealth, of which Nigeria is a member. The "sweetheart deal" nature of the contract is one of the arguments objectors to the toll road are making.

I'm not sure I agree. First of all,  the terms are not "Lagos State must pay us $X over the next 30 years, regardless of how much less than that we take in from tolls." It is instead, "if Lagos State defaults on the terms of our agreement, then they must pay us $X."
If we agree on this, then it is not quite a riskless investment, is it? It is just to protect themselves and ensure a penalty of their partner (Lagos State) violates the agreement.
Or am I misunderstanding?

Now, let’s go back to the map https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-576642.96.html#msg7437041 you kindly posted, and my contention that the toll road solves no traffic problem. If the toll ran above ground but parallel to the existing road, it would create value for the road user or what is known in contract law as “consideration”. The value, in this case, would be the option to bypass congestion in that corridor and ride above ground in free-flowing traffic. Would you say the Lekki toll road creates such value?

In my opinion it does. Doesn't adding a 3rd lane have a similar effect? And surfacing and maintaining the road? Why must an above-ground toll be the only way to create value, when adding additional lanes does the same thing?

In every privately-financed toll road I know of, the construction was generally done as an adjunct to an existing government road. The Lagos state government got it backwards in their case: they are using taxpayers' money to construct an alternate route after giving taxpayers' road to a private enterprise to develop and toll for 30 years. Why not use the money they are spending on the alternate route to develop the Lekki road in the first place, and then toll it directly for the government? I can never be against allowing the investors to profit on their investment, but I get the impression that tolling the Lekki road was a back-room deal designed to steer business to the concessionaire.

So what if it turns out that the improvements they made will have the same overall effect in improving traffic as adding say an above-ground toll? Then will you still have this same impression?

I dunno, I'm dissatisfied with your argument to some extent, because it means that if a road has to be improved and expanded, and the state gov't doesn't have the funds to do it but they can find a private partner who is interested, then that private partner has very limited means to recover their investment. Fine, so maybe LCC should have built an above-ground toll. But what if that is an inferior overall solution to simply improving the existing road?

Sorta see what I'm saying?

PS: Sorry for taking so long to respond. . .

eku_bear:

Interesting new posts. I guess it makes for us to see the exact terms of this deal so we can compare and contrast to the alternatives. Hopefully the pending lawsuits make the details public.

Unfortunately, the contract details or the real people behind the coys/deals will probably not be revealed to the people of Lagos even after the court sees it. It is easy for the LASG (as progressive as they are/claim to be) to benefit from the current dispensation where government transparency is lacking.

Until we pass the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill pending in Senate, we cannot even start wishing for the kind of transparency that will bring govt. contract or company ownership details out to the open like that.

The comments here on the issue tells me that a lot of citizen-stakeholders are concerned about the ownership of those companies and the details of the contract award, so folks, we still have a lot to fight for.

Some background on the FOI bill -> http://allafrica.com/stories/201008190151.html

The FOI issue is like a funny case of a dog chasing its tail since 1999. We might have to cut that tail and feed the dog the darn thing to get it to stop its foolishness.

Lagos specific FOI issue-> http://www.thenigerianvoice.com/nvprint/37272/1/travails-of-the-foi-bill.html

Hello nairalanders,
This was done because he wants to contest for second term in office and i'm sure the toll will be back once the election is over.
So pls, all lagosian should read between the line,

Fashola simply suspended this as part of their propaganda machinery. On LTV news at 8pm today, they simply went to the toll gate and claimed that LCC has complied with the directive of the listening Governor to suspend the tolling!

Please let Mr. Fashola tell us the people he's been discussing with. We represent a coalition of 74 Estates and 14 villages in Eti-Osa and fashola has not met with the chairman of any estate or any of their representative yet he claims to be negotiating.

LTV also interviewed Jide Akinloye (outgoing Lagos state house of assembly member representing Eti-Osa) who thanked the Governor and said nothing about the issues at stake!

The Eti-Osa Chairman meanwhile claimed that "we' are not against tolling! I would like to know who the "we" are because we are against tolling and fencing, and certainly not going to pay toll on an UNCOMPLETED ROAD!!!

You want me to spend 3 hours from Ajah to Lekki Phase1 and expect me to give you 150 Naira for resurfacing the road!!! While it's easy to say that even God will cause that kind of money, we will not even allow LCC to make that money.

@ Eku_bear, I had questions for you on page 8 but I have those questions here for you again?

What happened to N5 bn tax payers money in the project?
Why pay toll on an uncompleted road?
Why pay toll when the commute time for the majority of people is worse than initial?
What is the compensation for all the 4 years of inconvenience?
What do I get for my tax if I stay in Lekki, considering there are no schools, no street roads, no hospital, no fire service, no sewage treatment?
Why must my own road be tolled when all other roads are not tolled and constructed faster?
How come you have to spend N50 bn on a 23Km expansion?
Why three tolls (average of 1 toll per 10 Km)?
How come there was no bid for the concessioning?
What value was given to the initial road?
If you have N50 bn, why not construct the Coastal Road afresh and toll it for whatever amount?

Are you people even aware that government is equipped with the right and sole authority to sell that or any public road to any private entity without providing all the stuff you people are crying about, talk less tolling?


This is obviously a concerned government. I do appreciate the fact that they are listening to the folks in the area and  trying to settle the issue.  I know shared sacrifice is new to many, but the government can't keep dancing to your selfish needs and complaints.

The government does not have enough money to satisfy the state's infrastructural needs and if what you desire is up to date infrastructure, we all pay to pay for it some way, some how.

@babapupa
that's a thoughtless thing to say(or even think). you sef know that if BRF were rumoured to have said that in public his chances of winning a fair election will drop by at least 20%.