When Danladi Verheijen has to attend an important meeting, he doesn't know whether getting there will take 10 minutes or three hours. "You're going to upset someone," he says. "You're going to arrive very early or very late. It leads to massive loss of productivity."

Verheijen works in Lagos, one of the world's fastest growing megacities – and one of the most congested. The simplest journey here can be a trial of will. Such is the snail's pace of morning traffic that hawkers patrol the queues selling socks and phone chargers, McVitie's digestives and shaving kits.

But Verheijen believes he can do something to break the deadlock. The 34-year-old venture capitalist is leading a group of investors in Lagos's first city railway. He believes the multibillion-dollar project could transform daily life for millions of people in this uniquely challenging metropolis, and potentially expand west from Nigeria to Ghana.

"I think it will dramatically change the face of Lagos," he said. "One of the lines is in an area people come to in the middle of Lagos island to work. To get to work at 8am, they probably have to leave their house right now about 5.30am or 5.45am. When our trains start working, they can probably leave their home at 7.25am. It's a difference of two hours. If you're saving between two and four hours a day, it's a dramatic effect.

"It's cheaper than the alternative, it's faster, it's safer, it's more reliable, it's more environmentally friendly. So it's very exciting."

Many railways laid during Africa's colonial era have decayed due to neglect, leaving Cecil John Rhodes's Cape-to-Cairo fantasy more remote than ever. In large parts of Nigeria, overgrown tracks and abandoned stations testify to the triumph of cars and planes.

But Lagos is badly in need of mass public transport beyond its recently introduced bus rapid transit system. Nigeria's commercial capital, built on a swamp and a series of islands, will overtake Cairo as Africa's biggest city in the next five years with a population of 12.4 million, according to the UN.

Urban expansion is one of the biggest challenges facing Africa as people migrate from rural areas in search of a better life. With its cities set to triple in size over the next 40 years, overcrowded slums, choked roads and pollution are already big problems.

It is hoped that a rail renaissance can be part of the solution. Last year, South Africa launched the R24bn (£2.17bn) Gautrain, linking Johannesburg to its international airport at speeds of up to 100mph, with further expansion to include the administrative capital, Pretoria, a notoriously busy route for motorists.

Lagos's EkoRail – Eko means Lagos in the Yoruba language – is the biggest public-private partnership in Lagos state and will eventually comprise seven railway lines, each costing more than $1bn (£630m). Two lines are already well advanced. The red will run north to south from Lagos island to Agbado through 13 stations. The blue will run 17 miles from the island to Okokomaiko in the middle of an expanded motorway.

It is hoped the lines will carry 1.4 million passengers per day. They will be powered by electricity rather than diesel but, with the national grid notoriously unreliable, EkoRail is building its own 30-40 MW power station, with excess power benefiting the motorway and local communities. The trains could begin test runs late next year.

Reflecting a growing trend in Africa, the project's infrastructure is being built by a Chinese contractor. Verheijen said: "They're much more competitive and aggressive about doing business. They're working Saturdays, they're working Sundays, they're working at nights. They come here and have big housing estates for their staff and just seem to work like armies. It's very focused and things go up very quickly."

Asked who was benefiting from the construction jobs, he said: "A lot of Chinese, some Nigerians as well. I'm not averse to that.

"We need infrastructure. We need toll roads, we need airports, we need rail, we need water transportation systems, we need power. That just allows entrepreneurs to take off from there."

Verheijen said the first goal was to silence the sceptics and show that rail transport was a viable option. But then, encouraged by wider signs of recovery in the national railway sector, he has ambitions to go further in Nigeria and beyond.

"The blue line goes to Badagry [west of Lagos]. It just makes sense to take that on to Togo and to Ghana. It will create trade and move people and also goods across west Africa. It probably sounds ludicrous, it might not even work, but we need to think about expanding in these ways.

"I understand it costs more money to take a container from Lagos to Abuja [the Nigerian capital] than it does to ship one from China to Lagos. Unbelievable. Rail, hopefully, will change a lot of that."

Verheijen hopes that one day Lagosians will find the railway as indispensable as Londoners. "I think as businesses get more competitive, people care a lot more about their time. Ten years ago we didn't have mobile phones and every time you had a message, you literally had to send somebody. We've become a lot more efficient now with the proliferation of mobile phones and can't even imagine ourselves living in that era. I'm sure rail transportation will be the same here.

"Ten years from now, we will not be able to imagine how we were able to slug through traffic every day."

Some veterans of Lagos's go-slow traffic arteries have welcomed the new scheme. Tolu Ogunlesi, a journalist and author, would leave home at 5.45am to reach his office at 8am. "It's not unusual to find Lagosians waking at 4am so they can be sure of getting to the office at eight," he said. "It's a crazy life.

"I'd definitely use the Lagos rail. I think it's pure insanity for anyone to assume that Lagos's traffic problems can be solved without a means of moving large numbers of people between the mainland and the island with minimum delay outside of the existing road system. And what would that be if not a rail system?

"So far the government has tried buses and bus lanes, but clearly something more imaginative, and drastic, is required. Imagine what London would be without the tube – and Lagos has more people than London."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/14/lagos-railway-change-lives-nigeria

Projects like this make my heart glad.

eku_bear:

Projects like this make my heart glad.

Second!!!

Fellow Nigerians, we can replicate this in Nigeria as a whole! VOTE ACN, VOTE RIBADU!!!!!

I really hope they will complete this project before or by the end of 2012 as promised. Lagos cant wait.

One of the unforgivable errors of Yaradead was the cancellation of a similar railway project awarded by obj in 2007.

It wa conceived back in the 70s/80s, but shagari and Hausa bad bele scuttled the whole project. Thank God Lagos is blessed with leaders with great vision and sense of independence.

jason123:

Fellow Nigerians, we can replicate this in Nigeria as a whole! VOTE ACN, VOTE RIBADU!!!!!

Eh, this I wonder about. The private investors first want to see success in Lagos before replicating elsewhere.

BTW, is it me, or is this dude mentioned somewhat of a badass? 34 years old, MBA from HBS, and from LinkedIn looks like he was a VP at CitiBank for some time, then a stint at McKinsey. Not a bad set of accomplishments at that age.

A bit unfortunate that Nigerians cannot be involved in the construction work, and instead it is given to Chinese. Would be nice if we could be more competitive. . .

eku_bear:

Eh, this I wonder about. The private investors first want to see success in Lagos before replicating elsewhere.

BTW, is it me, or is this dude mentioned somewhat of a badass? 34 years old, MBA from HBS, and from LinkedIn looks like he was a VP at CitiBank for some time, then a stint at McKinsey. Not a bad set of accomplishments at that age.

A bit unfortunate that Nigerians cannot be involved in the construction work, and instead it is given to Chinese. Would be nice if we could be more competitive. . .

f**king stalker. . .why can't you be more competitive?

Great idea, though not original. Its mind boggling that our railways are deplorable when there's so much money and development that can be achieved when railways are operating properly

mens dept:

Great idea, though not original. Its mind boggling that our railways are deplorable when there's so[b] much money and development that can be achieved when railways are operating properly[/b]

nigerians politicians prefer flying.roads and railways are for poor men.

A functioning Lagos->Abuja railway (or even just a fast road connecting the cities!) would be a godsend.

asha 80:


nigerians politicians prefer flying.roads and railways are for poor men.

True that, but now those planes are crashing (as the Sokoto emirs), and those so-called airport runway expansions are taking years to complete

There is already a function Lagos -> Abuja railway or doesn't the NRC currently make stops at Abuja?

Some spent billions importing dustbins, others built railways, clearly posterity will Judge all who who came, saw and looted!

Eko o ni baje jor!

Kobojunkie:

There is already a function Lagos -> Abuja railway or doesn't the NRC currently make stops at Abuja?

Interesting, I didn't know that. Any reason why it isn't used heavily?

^^^ It is heavily used, as far as I know. Rode the train myself back in the days.

^^ Sista, Is there anything you've not done before? You must rethink your "no new friends" policy jare. I need to "roll" with you on your next trip to Naija.

I hope this don't transpire to be another Elephant project. Jakande tried introducing "Lagos underground" in the 80s, it died after gulping several billions.

@ Tippy Top,

I believe Jakande's govt (79-83) had identified sources of funding for the project and had mapped out the route of the metroline. They were working on the blueprint for land acquisition and compensation as it would affect thousands of properties etc.

While this was going on Buhari toppled the Shagari govt and the metroline project was consigned to the dustbin.

@Tippy-Top: As the article indicates, this is foreign, private investors building the railways. If you think a private investor is likely to spend $1 billion on a project that will go nowhere. . .

On the other hand, if it is the same government spending that $1 billion, I agree the likelihood of it failing is high.

eku_bear:



A bit unfortunate that Nigerians cannot be involved in the construction work, and instead it is given to Chinese. Would be nice if we could be more competitive. . .

I recall reading about a Nigerian-born fella whose construction company in Canada won the contract to rebuild the Iraqi railroad system, much of which was destroyed by the US military during the “shock and awe” campaign (or, was it the “Aw, shucks!” campaign?). I believe he went to Nigeria to look for business but I don’t know the outcome of his trip.

Pifa:

I recall reading about a Nigerian-born fella whose construction company in Canada won the contract to rebuild the Iraqi railroad system, much of which was destroyed by the US military during the “shock and awe” campaign (or, was it the “Aw, shucks!” campaign?). I believe he went to Nigeria to look for business but I don’t know the outcome of his trip.

He won a contract to build a monorail line which I believe did not exist in Iraq before this time, and so could not have been destroyed during SHOCK AND AWE!

Mr. Igwemezie trained and lives in Canada; he also heads TransGlobim International, the engineering company that won the bid. The contract is to construct what is described as “a viable rail transportation network” for the city of Najaf. The network will connect three Islamic holy and historic mosques in Imam Ali, Kufa and Sahle.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5465440-146/story.csp

Kobojunkie:

He won a contract to build a monorail line which I believe did not exist in Iraq before this time, and so could not have been destroyed during SHOCK AND AWE!http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5465440-146/story.csp

Thanks for the correction. I recall reading about him in this forum, but I didn't have good recollection of the details.

^^^ No probs. Just that I doubt he would have gotten the same contract in Nigerian since our government has continued to refuse to spend much of our money on anything that will directly benefit the Nigerian people. Can Nigeria afford $500 million for a monorail project, after cancelling an $8 billion project that was meant to propel our rail system(nationwide) into the 21st century?

eku_bear, you are not smart. I would invest $1 billion on a rail in lagos . I am ready to borrow sure a money, if ask to do that. bring the paper my friend. if you find any bank ready to borrow me, I would sign sure a paper.

Kobojunkie:

^^^ No probs. Just that I doubt he would have gotten the same contract in Nigerian since our government has continued to refuse to spend much of our money on anything that will directly benefit the Nigerian people. Can Nigeria afford $500 million for a monorail project, after cancelling an $8 billion project that was meant to propel our rail system(nationwide) into the 21st century?

So long as the FG doesn't frustrate innovative states like Lagos building their infrastructure with foreign help rather than federal government help, I'll be more or less content. Maybe I'm asking too little or I'm too pessimistic, but I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for the FG to clean up its act.

eku_bear:

So long as the FG doesn't frustrate innovative states like Lagos building their infrastructure with foreign help rather than federal government help, I'll be more or less content. Maybe I'm asking too little or I'm too pessimistic, but I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for the FG to clean up its act.

I don't believe Nigerians like to wait for the Federal Government to do anything for them either. The fact is we don't have Billions of dollars lying around to help ourselves with and so people look to government, which has control of our resources still to do much of it all for us.

By the way, Buhari did not intentionally frustrate the Jakande metroline project.

A Lagos-Port Harcourt railway would be better I must say.

However, you just have to worry about the militants that operate in Delta and Bayelsa state.

Akhenaten:

A Lagos-Port Harcourt railway wold be better I must say.

However, you just have to worry about the militants that operate in Delta and Bayelsa state.

If we can attract venture capitalists/private equity/foreign banks/etc, then we can have both! That is the beauty of the Lagos PPP model. No need to wait for the FG.

Akhenaten:

A Lagos-Port Harcourt railway wold be better I must say.

However, you just have to worry about the militants that operate in Delta and Bayelsa state.

I assume Port Harcourt is in one of the oil-producing states. If so, such rail route as you suggested would be a valuable economic asset between Lagos and the oil producing areas. But your point about the militancy in the ND area is right on the mark.
     

To Akhenaten:
By the way, Akhenaten, thanks so much for posting the photographs of the early days of the Nigerian Republic. I just found them this evening and I really like the photos of Lagos. I don't have much recollection about the city, but I remember a few things about growing up there quite vividly.
 

Pifa:

   
     

To Akhenaten:
By the way, Akhenaten, thanks so much for posting the photographs of the early days of the Nigerian Republic. I just found them this evening and I really like the photos of Lagos. I don't have much recollection about the city, but I remember a few things about growing up there quite vividly.
 
   
   

No problem!

bla bla bla. whatever.

Ekiti will soon get there too