₦airaland Forum

naptu2: Lagos mega-city project enters crucial stage

By Akinpelu Dada

Monday, 26 Mar 2007

The presentation of a bill for the establishment of the Lagos Mega City Development Authority to the National Assembly by President Olusegun Obasanjo, last week is signalling a new vista in the redevelopment of the nation’s erstwhile capital city, which is also its commercial nerve centre.


Before now, stakeholders have been upbeat about the new wave of attention that the Lagos metropolis is receiving from the Federal Government, which is working with both the Lagos and Ogun state governments to halt the decadence of the last decade.


While still seeking legislative approval, the Prof. Akin Mabogunje-led authority appears not to be taking things lying low, as it has embarked on consultation with select groups of stakeholders.


From sessions with traditional rulers in both states to meetings with journalists, the message is the same – the need for all to rally support for the planned transformation of the city.


In response to protests by foreign investors that the current state of security, sanitation and transportation within the metropolis was a serious disincentive to their participation in the development of the country, Obasanjo, after consultation with Governor Bola Tinubu, set up the Presidential Committee on the Redevelopment of the Lagos Mega-City Region with Mabogunje as chairman.


The committee, which was inaugurated on December 30, 2005, was mandated to examine the current state of Lagos and make necessary recommendations on how to transform it.


The committee had noted that the Lagos mega-city region spanned 153,540 hectares of continuous built-up areas comprising virtually all of the local governments in the state as well as four local governments in Ogun State namely, Ado-Odo/Ota, Ifo, Obafemi Owode and Sagamu.


Planning the transformation and redevelopment of the mega-city region, the committee noted, required the recognition of the major activity centres. This, according to the committee, is to efficiently disperse employment opportunities among them and, thus, to better tackle the problem of the present traffic congestion arising from the over-concentration of employment opportunities in Apapa, Lagos Island and Victoria Island.


Consequently, 28 major activity centres, their internal road systems and the major roads linking them were identified and their planning and redevelopment, with private sector support, recommended as a first step in the transformation plan.


Mabogunje, in soliciting the support of the media for the authority’s work, said that journalists were important in getting the people informed, and should be in the vanguard of canvassing attitudinal change by the people.


He said that for the media to perform the task successfully, they must have correct information and must not be populist when certain actions were being taken, noting that the media should help in community mobilisation.


On the funding mechanism for the proposed transformation projects, Mabogunje said that the bill before the National Assembly had made provision for the Federal Government to contribute 45 per cent, while Lagos and Ogun states would contribute 40 and 15 per cent respectively.


He said that the authority hoped to source for additional resources from the capital market through the Urban Development Bank to execute some of the projects aimed at restoring the lost glory of Lagos. The contributory pension fund, he said, would also provide a ready pool of money for the projects


 Mabogunje said the authority would also rely on a robust foreign and local private sector partnership to encourage investment in the provision of efficient and comfortable public transportation, housing and other social amenities.


On current transportation problem in Lagos, he stated that negotiations had commenced with an American firm, Lemna International Incorporated, for the provision of a $450m light rail mass transit scheme running from Okokomaiko to Mile 2 and terminating at the Ebute Meta terminus of the Nigerian Railway Corporation.


He said the rail project, which would run through the Badagry Expressway on a dedicated lane, would compliment a similar one being planned by the Lagos State Government that would run through Ijoko Ota-Alagbado-Iddo corridor.

http://archive.punchontheweb.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20070326975862


Of course, like I said, Obasanjo, Tinubu, Daniel and Osoba left office and that was that.

naptu2: I posted these links on the rail thread. I think they'll be useful here.

The Trans-African Highway project was conceived as a means of bringing Africans closer. Lagos-Badagry Expressway was supposed to be part of Ecowas' contribution to the project. The project was later abandoned.

The Obasanjo Administration planned the Lagos-Ogun Mega City Project. One of the things the project is meant to do I to create a railway line from Lagos to Ogun (the Lagos-Ogun Mega City Project office is on Queens Drive, close to Ship/Naval House). Not much has been heard of the project since Obasanjo, Tinubu and Daniel left office.

Governor Fashola states that the Lagos Mega City is a status conferred on Lagos by it's population size. It is not a project. The challenge is for government to react appropriately to the increase in population and make it a modern city(note: it used to be called Lagos-Ogun Mega City, but I've not heard Fashola call it that).

The Lagos-Badagry Road project is one of the ways the government reacts. It would expand the road to 10 lanes, including BRT lane and a rail service. The Lagos State Government got a loan from the World Bank to execute the project (they were initially considering various funding models, including ppp, tolling, etc). The road is designed to open up the western axis, just as the lekki road project is opening the eastern axis. Fashola stated that many people do not want to live and work in that axis because of the traffic jam, even though people complain of shortage of land and houses in lagos.

The Federal Minister of works, Hassan Lawal threatened to stop the project (this was while Yar'Adua was in hospital. Despite the fact that Yar'Adua's administration guaranteed the World Bank loan).


http://thenationonlineng.net/web2/articles/35271/1/Who-is-afraid-of-the-highway-to-Badagry/Page1.html

http://thenationonlineng.net/web2/articles/35505/1/Akran-berates-minister-over-comment-on-LagosBadagry-road-/Page1.html


After acting president Goodluck Jonathan reshuffled the cabinet, the new minister of works, Sanusi Daggash stated the the problem had been solved and Lagos State could continue with the project.

http://www.businessdayonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10568:fg-resolves-face-off-with-lagos-over-badagry-road-project-&catid=85:national&Itemid=340


About 2 weeks ago, the minister of trade and investment declared that the Federal Government were pleased with the project and will hand over more rail lines/right of way to the Lagos State Government.

https://www.nairaland.com/921861/jonathan-cedes-tracks-lagos-light

Fashola inspecting the road and rail project.

http://www.businessdayonline.com/NG/index.php/city-file/city-file/32046-relief-underway-as-lagos-blue-line-rail-still-on-course-

http://streetoflagos.com/2011/11/28/lagos-to-complete-light-rail-project-in-2012/

Fashola inspecting the rail carriages in Canada.

http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2011/05/15/in-pictures-fashola-inspects-trains-facilities-for-lagos-light-rail-in-canada/

all4naija: You comment is based on guesses. There is no temporal supports there coming from the bed of the water. If a temporal supports are going to be used they would likely come from cranes mounted on barges!

It is a cable bridge not a suspension bridge. Even the parts which seem to be supported by cables are also supported by pillars and the pylons. The support by pylons is where the bridge rest on the middle of the pylon foundation. Please, stop speculating. This cable bridge is just fancy like many cable bridge you can find in many countries around the world.