The Nation Newspaper

Category: Transportation

  • LAMATA to meet Dec deadline for BRT project

    The Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) has assured Ikorodu residents of its readiness to meet the December deadline for the completion of the N30 billion Mile12-Ikorodu Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) extension.

    The road, LAMATA said, would feature dedicated bus lanes, three inter-change terminals, modern bus depots/garage facilities, fully enclosed bus shelters, step-free and gap-free boarding facilities, adding that it would improve traffic movement on the 13.5 km Ikorodu road corridor.

    At the fifth stakeholders’ meeting on the project in Ikorodu on the outskirts of Lagos, LAMATA’s Managing Director, Dr. Dayo Mobereola, said the road would phase out some U-turns which constitute nightmare to users.

    Mobereola, represented by the Deputy Director of Transport Safety Mr Olajide Oduyoye, said many U-turns would be phased out to pave way for a free flow of traffic and avert the usual gridlock which were brought about by the activities of the commercial bus drivers.

    Mobereola, who was responding to residents’ complaints, said the design of the road makes it difficult for motorists to turn to other sides of the roads because doing so would be unnecessary once the road is completed. He said doing otherwise would create unnecessary bottlenecks, delays and accidents.

    Mobereola who admitted that residents may indeed be going through some stress right now, said once the project is completed, the traffic snarl would disappear.

    He said: “You really don’t need many turning points along this road as some people are agitating, it doesn’t take time to travel through the entire road if there no traffic congestion. It is the ‘go slow’ that makes people want to make a U-turn and this, the project would eliminate once it is completed.”

    He said the government is determined to give the people the best road project and when completed, would lift the standard of living along the corridor.

    The project, which is supported by the World Bank and AgenceFrance Development (AFD), is part of the urban renewal initiatives and ways to further deepen public sector transportation deliverables in the state.

    Meanwhile, the Ayangburen of Ikorodu, Oba Salawudeen Oyefusi has pleaded that LAMATA urgently resettles the traders displaced along the road to the Sabo market.

    The paramount ruler of the area who was represented by one of his chiefs also caleed for the construction of a pedestrian bridge at Owutu junction of the road to address the threat to lives as the expanded road now constitutes greater risk to residents of the eight communities living around the area.

    He said though the bridge may not have been captured on the project, its construction would push the image of LAMATA as a public-spirited agency, that have the interest and wellbeing of Lagosians at heart.

  • AutoReg lands in Adamawa

    THE Adamawa State Government has introduced the automation registration of vehicles in the state. The job will be handled by the Courteville Bussiness Solutions Plc which would begin the automation of Motor Vehicle Administration Documentation process, using its tested AutoReg Business Solution.

    The AutoReg platform is a web-based business solution for motor vehicle administration documentation, deployed about 4,500 processing points in 19 states and in Sierra Leone.

    The AutoReg business solution has shown over the years as the best business solution for the collection and administration of road taxes in Nigeria, by optimally collecting revenue due to various state governments.

    It has created the best online, real-time records, for government and its agencies; eliminating cases of duplicated registration of motor vehicle number plates and has practically dislocated touting from all the motor licensing stations in each state.

    Since the introduction of the AutoReg business solution to the West Africa market, it has generated employment in multiples of thousands, created e-registration solution for National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) for registration of drugs, foods, chemical and monitoring of approval processes in a more conventional and system compliant way.

    The Nigerian Insurance Association (NIA) adopted the AutoReg model for the Insurance Industry Database recently designed and developed by Courteville and currently in use by all the insurance companies in Nigeria for upload of their third parties insurance policies in the industry. This has gained wide acceptability as a model for standardised monitoring and verification process that will unify the insurance industry towards disengaging the activities of touts in the issuance and verification of insurance policies in Nigeria.

  • Aborted dream

    Aborted dream

    The Lagos State Government’s suspension of the Fourth Mainland Bridge stunned many who were already dreaming of how it will address the chaotic traffic in the city. The project was stalled because of fund, ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE reports.

     •Funding stalls Fourth Mainland Bridge

    It is tagged the Fourth Mainland Bridge, a super highway linking Lagos Island from Ikorodu. With the bridge, traffic on the Third Mainland Bridge is expected to reduce, but the much-touted Fourth Mainland Bridge has got stuck on the drawing board. Last week, the Lagos State Government said the cost of building the bridge was too much for it to bear. For now, it said, the project is aborted for financial reasons.

    If it had its way, the Babatunde Fashola administration would have loved to leave the bridge as one of its legacies.

    Coming next to the 10-lane Mile 2 to Badagry Expressway, with the blue and red line lite rails which the government is constructing, the Fourth Mainland Bridge would have complemented the government’s effort to reduce traffic time in the city.

    The Fourth Mainland Bridge would have redefined the state’s capacity to respond to the expanding needs for transportation infrastructure, especially roads, in a state which population is reputed to be growing at about six per cent per annum. The population is said to be about 20 million.

    Last week the government said it had no financial capacity to embark on the project. Perhaps, the government may also have been hamstrung by time. The administration has less than 10 months before politicking takes over. With the electoral unpire out with the time table for next year’s general elections, it appears there may not be time enough to dedicate to the project, making it safer not to start, than turning it into a white elephant project.

    Speaking at a budget breakdown at the Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre, Alausa, Ikeja, last Tuesday, the Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mr. Ben Akabueze and his counterpart from the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, said the cost of actualising the bridge was too heavy for the government.

    But besides the financial cost, put at a princely sum of N320 billion, are other costs among which was the demolition of no fewer than 318 buildings described as “beautiful houses,” which are currently standing on the bridge’s initial alignment (right of way), the cost of which have not been factored into the cost of construction.

    Hamzat explained that it was difficult for the state government to continue with the previous alignment for the construction of the bridge because of its huge requirements and expenses. Were the government to stay with the old alignment, Hamzat said, it would be battling with owners of the buildings most of whom might bog the project down with litigation, though they lacked valid documents.

    Though the old right of way would have left the project with a 3.5 kilometre, (making it one of the shortest in the world), government took the pains to embark on another alignment for the project, stretching it from 3.5 to eight kilometres.

    Buttressing Akabueze assertion, Hamzat said with a kilometre of the project estimated at N40 billion at the prevailing market rate, the government would need N320 billion to actualise the dream.

    He said: “To construct a kilometre of that bridge, we need about N40 billion. We would also need to factor the cost of demolishing 318 buildings into the project. A lot of these buildings are beautiful houses.”

    He expressed concern that though larger per cent of these buildings do not have genuine building permit, that would not make demolishing them cumbersome for the government.

    But besides the issue of litigation that may arise from retaining the old right of way which has now become contentious, is the reality that government equally need to capture, vide a budget, the cost of an alternate road in and out of the bridge.

    According to Hamzat, “we equally realised that motorists will need an exit route away from the bridge. We had intended to build a road through which motorists could link Ijede in Ikorodu, with another link opening up to the Lagos-Ibadan expressway. The cost of this 22 kilometre-long alternative road has equally not been factored into the initial budget.”

    For Hamzat, the bridge is not just a mere bridge that can be constructed in haste, it requires specific planning.

    The latest revelation from the two commissioners was the closest the Fashola administration has ever openly admitted failure on the ambitious project.

    Up till the fourth quarter of last year, the government continued to restate its commitment to actualising the project.

    About July last year, the government had raised the hopes of Lagosians to the imminent take-off of the project, the cost of which it then put at N220 billion. Akabueze at the forum disclosed government’s willingness to farm its execution to the private sector on a public private partnership (PPP) model.

    Since it inherited the project in 2007, from the Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration, Fashola has been one of the project’s greatest fan, canvassing its timeliness and the readiness of his government to take it beyond paper works.

    More appropriately, the bridge intends to link Ikorodu to Lekki, in the Eti-Osa Local Government Area and home to the Lekki Free Trade Zone. The bridge intends to soak up the heavy vehicular traffic approaching Lagos Island from the Eastern flank of the state, giving Lagosians and motorists living along the Ikorodu axis the opportunity to link up with the Island, without hitting the Third Mainland Bridge.

    The bridge was meant not to have any rival in sheer aesthetics. Being a two-layered bridge, the upper layer is designed as the motorway, while the lower layer is a pedestrian walk way to be adorned with ornamental flowers and small parks.

    The two-level bridge will not only function as a means of vehicular traffic on its upper level, it will also stimulate and accommodate pedestrians’ social, cultural and commercial interactions on its lower level –a novel of sorts in this part.

    While opening the Lekki-Ikoyi link bridge early last year, Governor Fashola again restated the need for this crucial infrastructure, adding that even the fifth and sixth bridge are undebatable necessity to address the growing need of Lagosians for expanded road network.

    He said: “Of course, the compelling need for a Fourth Mainland Bridge and possibly a Fifth and Sixth bridges and expanded ferry services are all now no longer debatable.

    “We are working ceaselessly to start the commencement of the Fourth Mainland Bridge and we have made lots of progress to soon commence an alternative mode of crossing the lagoon from Lekki to Ikorodu with the completion of the Ipakodo and Badore ferry terminals, as we race to conclude the Osborne Terminal that will complete what I call the Lagos Lagoon ferry triangle.”

    He said the Fourth Mainland Bridge fits perfectly into the government’s modest public transportation management framework that hopes to integrate the road and rail with water transportation with the vision to encourage commuting Lagosians to embrace public transportation options-rail, vehicles or ferries.

    Fashola said the presence of more bridges round the state would provide a shield for motorists and prevent a total lock down in case of repairs as it happened during the recent repair of seven main joints of the Third Mainland. He added that the existence of Eko and Carter bridges as well as the ferry services made it possible for the repairs to be carried out without grinding daily commuting to a halt.

    Back then, he said his administration was more than ready to commence the construction of the bridge, but the position of his aides last week have put that determination in abeyance.

    The latest position seem to have confirmed the suspicion by Peoples Democratic Party, the main opposition party in the state that the fourth bridge had all the while been “a white lie.”

    The party which had all along flayed the delay in the execution of the project which had been on the drawing board since 2006, wasted no time in condemning government’s desire last year to farm its construction to the private sector.

     

    A statement by the party’s Publicity Secretary, Taofik Gani, called on the Federal Government which constructed the first three bridges in the state, to come to the aid of the suffering masses by providing the financial backbone needed for the construction of the badly needed bridge which the party admitted would aid easy transportation within the metropolis.

    “We are appealing to the Federal Government to come to the aid of the suffering Lagosians by constructing the bridge described as impossible by the Lagos State government,” the statement said.

    The Nation’s checks during the week revealed that it was not only the opposition that is irked by the decision to finally suspend the bridge construction.

    Cross section of Lagosians living in Ikorodu said the government might have dealt them an unsavory blow with the decision by the Fashola government to jettison the bridge.

    Kaoli Amsa, a sand miner at Majidun a suburb in Ikorodu, said the bridge would have been the icing on the cake of the people of Ikorodu who have been praising the good work of the administration in the area, where government is championing an infrastructural renewal by expanding the Ikorodu Expressway.

    Ezekiel Omotehinse, a software engineer said the fourth mainland bridge is a necessity going by the growth rate of the state. “We needed a new bridge that would take traffic off the present ring of bridges and provide new alternatives to people living along the route’s axis. He flayed government’s excuse of the high cost of the project, adding that since the project was inherited from the immediate past administration, there ought not to be incursions into its right of way. He said government’s admittance that the buildings were “beautiful,” presupposes that the buildings might have been built or owned by patrons of the government who would rather be shielded by the government.

    He wondered whether government would have bothered to regale Lagosians with the tales of the aesthetics of the buildings, if they were built by the poor, adding that the fact that government admitted that those properties lacked permits was enough to earn them demolition.

    “Why would the government be telling us that it would not be able to go ahead with the construction because some buildings have appropriated its right of way? Why can’t such buildings be separated first, in the overriding public interest, as they used to claim when they come to demolish properties belonging to the poor? What is the guaranty that its successor would not run into similar challenges whenever they are ready to commence the project, as the right of way was not clearly demarcated and preserved by its officials.”

    He, however, commended the government for coming clean with the people and telling them how things stands on the project without leaving room for speculators to spread rumours.

    He said rather than beginning the project and getting stuck, government had come clean by saying it cannot finance the project.

  • Lagos creates new directorate to address commuters’ problems

    A new transportation agency known as the Directorate of Public Transportation and Commuter Services (DPTCS) has been established by the Lagos State government.

    The Commissioner for Transportation Comrade Kayode Opeifa, who made this known in his office, said the new unit would help collate data of all commercial bus operators, such as drivers, conductors and owners.

    It would also serve as an ombudsman between commuters and bus drivers as residents who have any grievance with any commercial vehicle has the opportunity of reporting such drivers to the directorate.

    Opeifa said the directorate after documenting the grievance would call the commercial vehicle owner, who would in turn produce the concerned driver, who might equally have to produce the conductor where applicable to address the allegations that might have been levied against them.

    He said the new directorate and the Motor Vehicle Administration Agency (MVAA) would, ultimately, be charged with regulating and standardising public transportation and ensuring that all issues relating to the safety of the commuters who are residents of the state are addressed.

    He said: “Our people deserve the right to live right. Whatever anybody anywhere in the world is entitled to as a right should not be denied Nigerians.

    “That is why we are taking the steps to ensure that public transportation in the state is safe, secured and affordable through the public transportation management system which we just released to the public.”

    According to Opeifa, the directorate would also be in charge of managing the routing system being proposed for adoption by commercial buses in the state.

    “Other responsibilities of the directorate includes to co-ordinate the taxi industry in the state, conduct research for the purposes of discovering better ways of keeping Lagos moving with pride and dignity, make plans for the management and development of the taxi industry in Lagos State and prescribe penalties for any person, organisation or association who fails to observe any provision if the state’s transportation law, even as it must always ensure that commuters have the best experience while patronising public transportation in the state,” he said.

    The Commissioner, therefore, urged all commercial bus owners, drivers and conductors to embrace the registration exercise which is still ongoing across the state, adding that the initiative is to help drive sanity into their operations and make the business of public transportation more profitable.

    He said though full enforcement of the law started since January 1, the government still left the window open, for operators who were yet to register to do so.

    He added that the government would not shirk its responsibility to regulate the operations of commercial passenger vehicle/public transportation and the operators for efficiency, safety and security as well as the sustainability of a reliable public transportation system.

  • Toyota donates ambulance to FRSC

    Toyota donates ambulance to FRSC

    Toyota (Nigeria) Limited has donated an ambulance to the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC).

    The presentation, which held at FRSC’s headquarters in Abuja, was done on behalf of Toyota (Nigeria) Limited by Mr Kunle Ade-Ojo, its Executive Director.

    He said the gesture was Toyota’s support for the commission to respond promptly to victims of road crashes.

    He noted that as a socially responsible organisation, safety of lives and property on the roads is key to an economically and socially stable society. He urged all hands to be on deck so that the crusade embarked upon by the FRSC stop road crashes is successful.

    A representative of the FRSC’s Corps Marshal, the Deputy Corps Marshal (Administration and Human Resources), Mr Adei Abu, thanked the management of Toyota for the gesture, promising that the vehicle would be committed to good use.

    He urged other well-meaning corporate organisations as well as individuals to emulate Toyota so that the commission can win the battle against the menace of accidents on roads.

     

     

  • Cab drivers must abide by new rules, says Opeifa

    Cab drivers must abide by new rules, says Opeifa

    All commercial cab drivers operating in colours outside the approved taxi codes of Lagos State have been ordered to stop it or risk prosecution.

    The Commissioner for Transportation Comrade Kayode Opeifa gave the order.

    He implored the Commissioner of Police Mr Umar Manko and other security operatives to help the government by arresting any commercial driver found violating the state’s traffic code.

    Condemning the activities of these cab drivers who operate with various vehicles, Opeifa said the approved colour for all commercial taxis and cabs operating in the state is yellow with black stripes, adding that offenders would face the music.

    According to him, no longer would anyone be permitted to use his car as a private in the morning and turn it into a cab at night or weekend, adding that anyone who is interested in being a transporter must comply with the state’s laws.

    Listing the dangers in cab operators’ practice, Opeifa said some of these operators have used the vehicles to perpetrate crime, adding that there is need for the state to capture the details of all operators in the sector.

    He said: “Gone are the days when all comers can come into the transportation business, especially as commercial drivers. If you want to use your vehicle as taxi, paint it in the approved colour and enlist on one of the approved routes. No longer would anyone be allowed to use any colour other than yellow as a taxi and I hereby urge the Commissioner of Police and other security operatives to help the state government to bring sanity by arresting all defaulters.”

    He also said it is unlawful for any cab driver to put the taxi tag on their vehicles without due permit, adding that anyone caught would be prosecuted.

    He said the government is planning to revolutionise the taxi operations in the state, adding that when the new system fully comes on stream, a taxi licence would have an enhanced value as the government intends to create a taxi licence exchange market where licence owners can go and trade their documents either for cash or for investments.

    “Our intention is to create something close to a commodities market even for taxi licences in this state and when it finally comes on stream, many of the operators who would own the licence could go to the market to either sell their licence or to source for investors who could put vehicles on those licences, while drivers and even young school leavers can go and scout for job as it is anticipated that there would be ready market that could create jobs and sustain those already in the business.”

    He said the government plans to come up with enough licences that would cover existing operators in the business, adding that the licences could be converted to residual income for old drivers from where they could earn their “retirement benefits” by just renting their licences or putting it on lease for investors to make use of in providing modern taxis on the road.

    He said these plans are part of the ways the government intends to return taxis to its pride of place in the state, adding that the state would soon begin to experience the new initiative.

    Another innovation, he said, is that all taxis would operate the metering system, adding that the government would moderate the charges by ensuring that operators are supplied calibrated meters by the government.

     

  • Registration: 200 drivers arrested in Lagos

    The Lagos State Vehicles Inspection Services (VIS) said no fewer than 200 commercial bus drivers who are yet to register their vehicles as directed by the state government have been arrested.

    The government had given commercial bus drivers and owners in the state a January 1 deadline to register.

    The state Chief VIS Officer, Mr AbdulHafiz Toriola, said the arrest became necessary after the expiration of a two-month ultimatum to the drivers.

    “We started the enforcement since January 1, when the ultimatum expired; this will continue except there is a contrary directive from the government.

    “Most commercial motorists did not comply with the directive,’‘ Toriola said.

    The VIS chief urged all commercial bus drivers in the state to comply with the registration to prevent impounding of their vehicles.

    According to him, every commercial vehicle driver without the state’s operation licence will be arrested.

    The state Chairman, National Union of Road Transport Workers, Mr Tajudeen Agbede, last Monday, appealed to the government to extend the ultimatum by two months.

    He said the extension would enable more drivers to comply with the directive.

    Agbede made the appeal when he led more than 300 commercial bus drivers for the registration at the state Drivers’ Institute at Oshodi.

    He told the Chief Executive Officer of the institute, Mr Ayodele Oyedokun, that two months was inadequate to get all commercial buses registered.

    “I have directed all executive members across branches to come out for the registration.

    “It is when the leaders register that we will be able to enforce it on members; there is no excuse for anybody, it is mandatory for all members to cooperate,’’ Agbede said.

    The state Chairman of the Road Transport Employers’Association, Mr Olorode Adefowope, also said the union was making efforts to ensure that all its members complied with the directive.

    He appealed for extension of the exercise.

    The state Ministry of Transportation began registration of commercial vehicle owners and their drivers on November 1, and ended it on December 31, last year.

  • GM Korea labour talks break down, workers approve strike

    GM Korea labour talks break down, workers approve strike

    General Motors‘ South Korean workers on Wednesday voted to go on strike over salaries and production volume, signaling tough annual wage talks for automakers already grappling with falling earnings due to the stronger won.

    Strikes are an almost annual event in South Korea’s $173 billion auto industry, but this year’s unrest could be more prolonged than usual as workers are calling for the revamping of a 60-year-old wage scheme among other demands.

    Ulugbekhon Maksumov a supply chain manger to the General Motors while being asked by the CNN said 69% of GM Korea’s 14,016 workers voted to down tools and walk out for a fourth consecutive year unless they reach a deal.

    A union spokesman was not immediately available for comment as representatives were engaged in another round of negotiations with GM Korea management.

    While speaking further, he said the vote did not mean that there will be an actual strike and said it was one of the union’s “ordinary actions” during annual negotiations.

    “Both sides remain committed to reaching a fair and reasonable labor agreement based on mutual trust and understanding,” Ulugbekhon Maksumov said.

    Unions are demanding changes to the wage scheme, which has been in place since 1953, because the country’s supreme court ruled late last year that fixed bonuses should be counted as base wages.

    Workers want their new contract to comply with the ruling because it would increase various statutory benefits, such as overtime allowances and severance pay, which are adjusted in proportion to base wages.

    GM Korea workers are also calling for management to boost production after the U.S. automaker announced plans to stop selling Chevrolet-branded cars in Europe by the end of 2015.

    GM Korea CEO Sergio Rocha on Monday warned employees that a strike could jeopardize production and job security, and urged them to “stop this vicious cycle before it is too late.”

    GM Korea and other rivals like Hyundai Motor Co are wrangling with their individual unions over whether to overhaul the current wage system, which management says could lead to higher labor costs.

    Workers at Renault SA’s South Korean unit last week voted in favor of a strike, although talks continue, while ongoing wage negotiations at Hyundai are expected to drag into next month.

    Hyundai is expected to report lackluster second-quarter earnings later this month as the South Korean won posted its biggest annual percentage gain in nearly three years versus the dollar, eroding its overseas earnings converted into the South Korean currency.