By Olu Adeyinka
A transportation policy document which provides a framework within which transport infrastructure and services can be efficiently deployed was on Friday unveiled by the Lagos State Government.
Unveiling the policy at a stakeholder’s forum organised by the Lagos State Ministry of Transportation, at Adeyemi Bero Auditorium, Alausa Ikeja, the Commissioner for Transportation Mr Ladi Lawanson said the policy, when eventually adopted would ensure compliance of the sector with international security and safety standards.
Lawanson who praised the state governor Mr Akinwunmi Ambode for his commitment to the sector said the forum was to enable the team of consultants midwifing the document to collate opinions of other stakeholders in order to have a robust document that would be presented to the state’s lawmakers for appropriate legislation.
He said: “the document is in tandem with the government’s avowed commitment to continual improvement of the citizen’s welfare, as it touches on other modes of transportation hitherto unfathomed in the state’s transportation subsector.
“Essentially, through the document, we shall seek to provide a framework within which transport infrastructure and services can be used efficiently, leading to a safe and environmentally friendly manner f operations capable of buoying the private sector’s confidence to invest in and improve upon.”
He said the policy is the first in the history of the state and indeed the country, adding that despite all government strides in promoting public transportation, there has never been a policy regulating the sector.
Lead consultants Prof Kayode Oyesiku praised tbe state government for pioneering the policy, which if adhered to, would sanitize the transport industry and ensure that only professional who are qualified are allowed to man its operations
Oyesiku said the policy which covered land, rail, pipeline, water, and air transportation would go a long way in ensuring that sanity is driven down to the operations of the sector.
Oyesiku said it is high time Lagos State aggressively pursue intermodal transportation, which would make transportation modes cheap, affordable and readily available and would permanently address the menace of gridlocks being witnessed within the city centres across the state.
According to Oyesiku, the policy would help set guidelines for would be investors, even as it clearly defi ess the roles of government as the regulator of the process.
Pioneer Dean of the School of Transportation Studies, Lagos State University, LASU, Dr Tajudeen Kayode Bawa’Allah said the policy would among others establish an agency – Lagos Transport Authority (LTA), which would regulate all modes of the transportation in the state.
Dean of the LASU School of Transportation Prof Samuel Odewunmi highlighting the institutional framework for the policy said all the agencies operating within the transportation sector, must be brought under one umbrella for maximum supervision, coordination and regulation.
The Permanent Secretary of the ministry Dr Taiwo Olufemi Salaam said the policy is to complement the various initiatives being put together by the government to prominent the safe, affordable public transportation.
He said when fully in place, the policy would help promote safety of lives and properties across all the identified modes to which the government is committed to explore.
No fewer than 35 suggestions from 25 stakeholders were taken to be included in the document.
Among such initiatives identified was the place of non motorised mode of transportation, improved access to public transportation by the aged and people living with disabilities, the enforcement guidelines to sanitise the operations of commercial yellow buses and their operators, especially the agbero system as well as motorcycles and tricycle operations in the state.
Associate Prof of Urban Planning and Development at the University of Lagos Dr Taibat Lawanson praised the government for coming up with a transportation policy and urged the government to demonstrate the will to implement it.