Lagos State Government says work is in progress to integrate the rail, road and water transport systems to address the persistent gridlocks in the state.

According to Commissioner for Transport, Ladi Lawanson, in order to get everything right, the state government implementing a master plan to integrate the major transportation systems to ensure free flow of traffic and curb incessant gridlocks.

Lawanson said the transportation master plan involved the three major modes of transportation: the rail, road and water, saying for the road transport, work was going on to ensure the transportation sector was transformed to the modern system which was practised globally.

He said the road system had the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), which they have been using for a while and the state served as the operator, saying they were running it like that until they found out that the method was not suitable because government, to be frank, has no business to be in a business.

Lawanson said rather, government has decided to opt out and now be a regulator, saying government was committed to ensuring the safety of the people using the waterways as their means of transportation within the state.

According to him, to tackle emergencies on the waterways more efficiently, the Lagos State government is to procure life-saving, quick response boats, saying government was working on bringing ideals and best practices on water transportation as the sub-sector requires millions dollars of investment, if they were to do it right.

Lawanson said government also distributes free life jackets to jetties periodically to save lives on waterways, saying there was at least a guard in every jetty in the state to properly kit passengers with life jackets before any journey because safety of life and property is very important.

The commissioner said government would set up a security institution on water transport, but that the institution would require a lot of training because water transportation was hazardous.

According to him, government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with a French firm, Alstom, to complete the Blue Rail project after a technical review.
“Before now, what was done was civil works; other components including signal, electrical and rolling stock have not been covered.

“Alstom is very good in the different aspects of the technology required to make it a success,’’ he said.

Lawanson said discussions with potential partners and financiers had also commenced on the Red Line aspect of the project which was referred to as ‘Phase Two.’

According to him, it will run from Marina to Agbado on the northern flank of Lagos, saying putting a rail project together requires a lot of patience and resourcefulness in terms of financing, where the financing will come from and who we are going to use.