TRAFFIC CONGESTION HURTS LAGOS ECONOMY – MOBEREOLA

A staggering loss of $7.5 million, attributed to traffic congestion is recorded daily within the economy of Lagos State.

This disclosure was made by the Commissioner for Transportation, Dr. Dayo Mobereola while delivering a paper title “Exploring Transportation Beyond Roads” at the Annual Lagos Traffic Radio Lecture Series in Alausa, Ikeja, today.

He noted that the concentration on use of road transportation and increasing presence of vehicles currently at 80 per 1000 persons and projected to be 200 per 1000 within the next 20 years as well as the challenge of limited roads development explain the loss.

Mobereola said the strategic transport masterplan
conceived by Lagos State Government to address the various issues within the sector proposes to push the share of rail transportation to 21% adding too that the last three years efforts have been directed at establishing a bus route network that will service the State.

According to him, Lagos needs 450 bus routes 20, 000 buses to service 10 million passenger trips happening daily.

The Commissioner, while explaining the strategic Transport Master Plan said the aim was to develop a fully integrated mass rapid transit system to cover the activity centers within the megacity region.

He said six rail lines, 1 mono rail line 14 BRT routes, 3 cable car projects and over 20 water routes are to be developed with implementation strategies being traffic management, ensuring an efficient public transport and transport integration.

Mobereola, who further stressed the benefit of the plan to include carbon emission reduction of 8 million tons per annum, also noted that 80% of transport journeys (less than 25km) will be completed within 60 minutes when plan comes fully on stream.

He also stated that the State Government will continue to promote water transportation by undertaking the dredging of waterways along the 26 water routes that have been identified. 

PR