By Segun James
The Lagos State Government will be pursuing audacious development programmes focused on water and rail transportation in 2020, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has revealed.
The governor in a New Year broadcast to unveil his administration’s direction and policy programmes in 2020 disclosed that the government would be prioritising investment in critical infrastructure with new vigour.
According to him, the state government is prepared to shift the burden of transportation away from roads alone, and with a renewed focus on waterways and rail transportation in the current year.
He said this is to disperse traffic on the roads and give residents a new choice in mass movement across the state.
With the signing of the state’s N1.168 trillion 2020 Budget into law, the governor said his administration has been statutorily emboldened to fully tap into the potential of its waterways and rail corridors by pursuing fresh investment and partnerships that would help his government deliver an inter-modal transportation model.
Traffic management and transportation are the key pillars of the Sanwo-Olu administration’s development agenda.
“We are prioritising investment in infrastructure this year to shift the burden of transportation away from the roads unto the waterways as a means of moving our people around safely and efficiently.
“Lagos is endowed with a large body of water that has been under-exploited over the years. This is why we have set to challenge ourselves to invest in this underutilized channel.
“Work will begin to happen on our waterways and Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA) has been saddled with this responsibility. In terms of the pace of work that is going on our Blue Line Rail project, which stretches from Okokomaiko to Marina, we expect the work to pick up and get Phase 1 of it completed for operations.
“Also, construction work is to commence on the Red Line that will stretch from Agege to Ebute Metta, this year.”
Sanwo-Olu observed that the Lagos State Public Works (LSPW) has been complementing his administration’s infrastructural renewal programme with persistent rehabilitation works on existing roads to ease the flow of traffic on feeder roads.
The repair work, he said, will continue across the state.
