· Offers advertising and concessioning opportunities to Investors
By Demilade Adeniyi
The first phase of the Lagos Rail Mass Transit (LRMT) Blue Line, will begin commercial operation in August 2023, the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) Mrs Abimbola Akinajo has said.
Speaking at the first ever LAMATA/Business Investors’ Forum in Lagos, Akinajo said Africa’s first ever intra-city rail by any State Government, inaugurated by President Muhammadu Buhari on January 24, 2023, will begin passenger operation in August this year.
She said: “I am happy to inform you that we are rounding off all testing processes, and are prepared for the commencement of full passenger operation on the Blue Rail in August this year. Details of the operations will be announced soon.”
“The first phase of LRMT Red Line (Agbado to Oyingbo) is also nearing completion and we intend to commence testing and passenger operations about August 2023,” she added.
SUNRISE NEWS recalled that test operation on the Blue line commenced in February and a cross section of residents; including the academia, media executives, market men and women, professional bodies, agencies and parastatals of the government and other well-meaning Nigerians, have enjoyed the ride from the Marina Mega Interchange to Mile 2 and back.
Addressing participants at the business forum, Mrs Akinajo said the forum was held to call attention of the business community to the opportunities of using the state’s transport infrastructure for the prosperity of their businesses and for the government to earn income that would enable it to strengthen the existing transport infrastructure and provide more.
She said investors have a wide range of opportunities especially in the area of branding and Out-of-Homes advertising.
The LAMATA Chief said opportunities exist for investors in bus and rail advertising as well as in branding or advertising on fixed assets such as pedestrian bridges, bus shelters, bus terminals and interchanges.
In a presentation, the Technical Adviser, Corporate and Investment Planning of LAMATA, Engr. Osa Konyeha, noted that the state government was seeking investors in the development of the Abule Egba – Sango Tollgate Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor, a 7.6-kilometre bus route with a daily projected ridership of over 63,000 passengers.
Also available is the Oworonsoki – Apapa BRT, a 28-kilometre route with a projected daily ridership of about 430,000 passengers.
He further stated that the government was ready to partner with investors in the refurbishment of 300 buses that are currently non-operational and the decarbonization of existing fleet and transition to cleaner energy.
In rail transportation, the government is seeking partnership in the management of advertising and Out of Homes (OOH) concessions within the stations, construction and management of multi-level car parks, skywalk bridges at Ikeja and Marina while also looking forward for concessionaires for the Green and Purple lines which have a combined distance of 133 kilometres. Investors would also have opportunity to bid for the upgrade of bus shelters, rehabilitation/construction of the Oyingbo Bus Terminal, construction of Ikorodu and Maryland Terminals and transport interchange facilities at Iju, Mushin, Ajah, Agege, LASU-Iba as well as Megabus terminals at Ojodu Berger, Odogunyan, Sango-Ota, Epe and Agbara.
