Matilda Omonaiye/
Four vehicular overpasses will be constructed by the Lagos State Government as part of design to ensure that the Lagos Rail Mass Transit – Red Line rail project from Oyingbo to Agbado has less interaction with vehicular traffic.
Managing Director, Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), Engr. Abimbola Akinajo said three new pedestrian bridges would also be built to hedge pedestrians against exposure to the danger of crossing the rail line.
Mrs. Akinajo who was represented at a public consultation and stakeholder meeting by the Director of Rail Transport, Engr. Olasunkanmi Okusaga informed that “overpasses would be built at Oyingbo, Yaba, Mushin and Ikeja where existing level crosses would be closed.
“These overpasses will also cater to pedestrian traffic while we will construct pedestrian bridges across the rail in three other locations,” she said.
Okusaga explained that the state government had been striving hard to have a rail line over the last three decades.
He said, “This is the best opportunity for us to have one running. Lagos is a state with a population of over 21 million. We need a transport system that will move people en-masse. We project that the first phase of the Red Line will move about 750,000 passengers daily. That will have a significant effect on reducing congestion on our roads.”
He described the project as one that all Lagosians and Nigerians would be proud of and therefore sought the cooperation of the people for a timely and successful completion of the rail project.
“It is a project all Lagosians would be proud of because, in the long run, it would change their travel experience as well as grant them easy access to transport services, job centres and social facilities,” he said.
According to Mrs Akinajo, “This project is expected to be completed in 24 months. We, therefore, call on everyone to own it, support it and take responsibility for its quick completion. When it is completed, you will experience mobility in a way never imagined.”
Engr. Babatunde Osho, an Environmental and Safety Management consultant informed that enumerators would soon be coming to them to carry out enumeration of project affected persons.
He explained that both house owners and tenants would be compensated and urged stakeholders to cooperate with the Lagos State Government and work to realize the project.
Also speaking, Chairman of Odi-Olowo Ojuwoye Local Council Development Authority, Hon. Rasaq Olusola Ajala, represented by the Secretary to the LCDA, Mr Mujeeb Daramola, pledged the support of the council to the rail project, assuring that the council would ensure all stakeholders’ buy-in.
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