WATER TRANSPORTATION: LASG Set To  Acquire 12 Ferries With Additional  15 New  Jetties 

By Roland Ekama

Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso has listed some iconic projects that will shape the face of commuting in Lagos State in the Year 2024. Some of the projects, according to him, include the Red Line Rail, the Opebi-Ojota Link Bridge and the completion of 15 Ferry Jetties as well as the deployment of additional 12 ferries to the existing ones to ease commuting across the State.

He expressed this view today during an interview session with journalists representing different media houses in his office at the Secretariat, Alausa.

He said the Opebi Link Bridge will take traffic off the Ikorodu Road and make access to the Airport from Ojota a lot easier.

The Red Line, he noted, will reduce the about three-hour travel time by road from Iddo to Agbado to about 35 minutes while the Water Transportation will receive a boost with the completion of about 15 new jetties and the addition of 12 boats to the existing 21. He recalled that, at inception, the Sanwo-Olu-led government inherited seven ferry boats and increased the number to 14 and then 21.

Speaking further on the legacy projects of the present administration, the Commissioner hinted that more developmental projects such as the Fourth Mainland Bridge, Massey Street Hospital, 500-Bed Mental Hospital and Rehabilitation Centre, Ketu-Ejinrin, the Lekki International Airport, Food and Logistics Hub, Omu Creek project, the Coastal Road project, Leather Hub at Mushin and General Hospitals, will receive the attention of the State Government this year.

While noting that the projects were geared towards creating jobs for the teeming population of the State, Omotoso opined that the Fourth Mainland Bridge is capable of creating 10,000 jobs and exposing young engineers to practical knowledge about building such gigantic projects

Asked to shed more light on the Fourth Mainland Bridge and the Red Line, the Commissioner disclosed that the preferred bidder for the Bridge, a consortium of construction companies and financiers, has been selected. The financial commitments are being worked out and physical work is expected to commence soon. He said the Red Line was about 90% complete as the last of the overdrive located in Mushin would be commissioned soon.

Queried on the role of the State Government in the recent change of leadership in the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in Lagos State, the Commissioner responded that it was purely a Union matter and the government would recognise and relate with any legitimate leadership of all Associations.

On the budget cycle, he said that the 2023 Budget cycle has been completed and it performed at about 90% as of November and expressed optimism that, the moment the 2024 Budget is passed and signed into law, its implementation commences immediately, and all developmental pillars of the administration will be impacted positively.

Responding to questions on the state of security, he said, “The security architecture of the State is top-notch. Lagos State is the safest in the country. The traffic robbers who tried to breach it were arrested and paraded. The Lagos State Security Trust Fund was strengthened at the last security stakeholders meeting and more security strategies are being mapped out and reviewed regularly by operatives”.