Few years after the Lagos State Government started infrastructural renewal, Lagosians are now having a mental picture of how the ongoing Lagos metro rail would look like when completed. MURITALA AYINLA and DAYO AYEYEMI take a look at the progress so far made to bring this monumental project to fruition.
When the administration of Mr. Babatunde Fashola began the implementation plan of its multipurpose infrastructural renewal four years, many of the residents were apprehensive of having their properties demolished to make room for roads.
Some buildings were completely demolished, while others were partially demolished to pave way for the 10-lane expressway.
Many saw the action as punitive, even as some challenged government's action in court. But today, the situation has changed.
Those familiar with the Badagry Expressway, before commencement of the light rail project will not forget in a hurry, that many houses built decades ago, including hospitals, police stations, mosques, churches, schools and banks were reduced to rubbles.
They now exist only in memory of residents on the Orile Badagry highway. What replaced these structures now are magnificent rail stations, 10-lane Expressway with millennium pedestrian bridges, covered and powered by solar energy. Added to these, are the train tracks in between the -lanes. On some of them, are light rail bridges running across canals, roads, lagoons and marsh land.
According to the state government, all the projects are designed to ease the bottleneck that have for long characterised transportation in Lagos. Hence, many residents cannot wait for the completion of this multi-billion naira project. On many occasions, the government had promised the early commencement of the operation of the light rail, but till now the project is yet to be completed.
According the Lagos State Metropolitan Transport Authority, LAMATA the supervising agency for the project, the light rail will consist of blue and red lane running across the metropolis If everything goes according to plans, commuters and motorists groaning over the hectic traffic situation on Lagos-Badagry Expressway to Lagos Island may begin to enjoy the benefits of rail service, which first phase is due for completion by December 2013. Already, infrastructure work of the project has extended to the National Theatre at Iganmu.
However, people are asking how the ongoing infrastructure would link Iddo and Marina from the National Theatre. On completion, the Blue line light rail scheme will be 27km long, connecting Okokomaiko to Marina.
Shedding more light on the project , the External Relations Specialist of LAMATA, Mr Kolawole Ojelabi, said the light rail project spanned Okomaiko to Marina, adding that its first phase commenced from Mile 2 to the National Theatre. According to him, LAMATA is responsible for the infrastructure work, while the private sector will be charged with operating the rail project.
He hinted that the infrastructure work on the first phase would be completed in December, adding that the second phase would commence from the National Theatre to Marina on the Island.
According to him, from the National Theatre, the infrastructure would be constructed on elevated platform over the bridge to link Iddo, where it will run over the Lagoon to Marina.
"Most of the route will be on the surface, running east-west, in the central reservation of the rebuilt Badagry Expressway between Okokomaiko and Iganmu. The line will run on elevated structure from Iganmu along the south side of the expressway passing the junction with Eric Moore Road, crossing south of the National Theatre to Iddo, then south to Lagos Island with a terminus at Marina," he said.
It would be recalled in April 2008, the Lagos State Government approved N70 billion for the construction of the Okokomaiko-Iddo- Marina Line, with a completion date of 2011.
Advisory services were provided by CPCS Transcom Limited, an infrastructure development consulting firm based in Ottawa, Canada. Construction actually commenced in January 2010, and completion is now expected in 2015. The Blue Line is being built by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation,CCECC.
The Blue Line will run for 27.5 km from Marina to Okokomaiko, with 13 stations. End-to-end journey time will be approximately 35 minutes. It is being built as a high capacity, electrically powered rail mass transit system.
A Maintenance and Storage Facility, MSF, will be constructed at Okokomaiko, with a track connection from the Blue Line to the depot.
The entire line will operate over a secure and exclusive right-of-way, with no level crossings and no uncontrolled access by pedestrians or vehicles. Lagos State is financing construction of the Blue Line from its own resources.
A concession contract is being awarded to finance, supply and operate the railway equipment, including electric power, signalling, trains, and fare collection. Lagos State Governor, Mr, Babatunde Fashola, had recently old some journalists, that the Lagos-Badagry Expressway project was awarded to two contractors, Messrs Julius Berger, which is constructing the 10 lane road and Messrs China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation building the Light Rail section of the road.
He stated that because of the piling work which CCECC has to complete before the road is filled; Julius Berger had to step aside until that is completed. He said, "We have two major contractors on the road, Julius Berger, carrying out road surfacing, while China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation is handling the rail line.
We asked Julius Berger to stop while CCECC completes the piling on the road. "Julius Berger cannot handover the road because any time the project is completed, they sign off and they have not in this case. Besides, there is going to be 11 pedestrian crossings between Alaba, Orile and National Theatre and they have to drive in piles along the road.
As it stands, it is like a building you have completed but cannot paint until all the external works are finished". In order to avoid those problems, the governor said the Phase 2 from Mile 2 to Okokomaiko has been awarded.
"The reason we have two contractors in the first instance is that we wanted Julius Berger to build the roads. There were a lot of things under that road which the other contractors who bid for it road did not take into consideration, while Julius Berger found them, " he said.
He said, "The most difficult part of the road is from Eric Moore to Mile 2 and we thought they should complete it. The CCECC is building the rails on the same road so they were getting in each other's way, which constituted a nightmare.
"The current phase of the road from Eric Moore to Mile 2, consists of seven kilometres of 10 lanes totalling 70 kilometres with two contractors in one place."
The second line, the Red Line, will run from Marina to Agbado. The line will share the existing 30 metre wide Nigerian Railway Corporation, NRC, Right-of-Way.
National Mirror