Pledges to protect marketers, transport workers
Gboyega Akinsanmi
Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, on Tuesday unveiled the Oshodi Transport Interchange designed to transform Oshodi to a world-class transport centre and end all notorious activities in the area.
The governor said the transport interchange, which would cost $70 million, would be constructed on the public-private partnership (PPP) arrangement, noting that it would be completed between 13 and 16 months.
He disclosed this at a meeting with stakeholders at the State House, Alausa, noting that the fear of insecurity “will totally be a thing of the past by the time the project is completed.”
The meeting, which was called to sensitise the stakeholders, was attended by leaders of National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), market associations and community leaders among others.
At the meeting, Ambode said the interest of market men and women and transporters have been taken care of, as they would more money compared to what they are currently making.
He said: “I am so happy that we are working together on this project. What we are doing today is what we have been planning for long and our plan is to transform some notorious areas in the state to places like Victoria Island.
“Oshodi is known for all kinds of notorious activities and we want to totally do away with that belief and the best way to go about it is to give the people world class facility and make them to live better lives.“We want the people in Oshodi to be identified with good and not bad things all the time and that was what made us to decide that the kind of development going on in Victoria Island, Lekki and other places in the state should be replicated in Oshodi as well.
“I mean I find it very disturbing that our children in Oshodi would have to travel to Lekki or Ikeja to have access to good shopping mall. So, what we have decided is to regenerate Oshodi.”
Giving insight into the project, the Managing Director of Planet Projects Limited, Mr. Biodun Otunola, promised that the firm will meet up with the scheduled time.
The managing director explained that the project, which Planet Projects Limited would execute in partnership with the state government, would gulp about $70 million.
He added that that several financial institutions “have expressed interest to be part of the project.”
The Lagos state NURTW Chairman, Mr. Tajudeen Agbede, commended the governor for the initiative, and expressed the readiness of his members to support the government to make the project a reality.
Also, Agbede thanked Ambode for the concretised Brown Street in Oshodi, but pleaded that their members should be carried along in the allocation of the shops in the shopping mall.
