The Nation Newspaper

Tag: EXPRESSWAY

  • FIX Agbor-Benin Expressway

    THE Benin-Asaba Expressway is a major road that links the West and Eastern parts of the country. It is an artery that helps seamless movement and economic activities.

    However, the state of the road of recent has made life difficult for commuters. It has almost grounded movement along the route.  Just after the boundary between Delta State and Edo, few kilometers before the Benin bypass, a portion the expressway has totally collapsed.

    Commuters are forced to spend several hours trying to negotiate through the bad area. As a result of the bad spot, incoming vehicles from Agbor are forced to divert to the other lane, without control by police and road safety; traffic normally comes to a standstill resulting in loss of so many hours.

    Some smaller commercial vehicles have been forced to look for detours through the nearby villages and in the process fall into the hands of local hoodlums who extort money from them.

    It is a Federal Government road and as it has become absolutely necessary that the road be fixed. Commuters are forced to spend several hours and in some odd hours, people have been robbed of their belongings.

    We are urgently calling on the government to do something about this area, including the Benin bypass, that has become death traps.

  • Woman delivers baby on Lagos – Ibadan Expressway

    Ogun State Sector Commander of Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC)Clement Oladele, yesterday said its officials took delivery of a baby girl whose mother was in transit on the Lagos /Ibadan Expressway.

    He spoke through the Public Education Officer Florence Okpe, in a statement in Abeokuta, the state capital, that the FRSC Accident and Emergency Clinic in Sagamu took the delivery of the baby around 1pm on Wednesday.

    She said: “A commercial vehicle with registration number XF 365 MKD on transit along the Lagos /Ibadan expressway drove into the FRSC Command premises.

    “The driver reported that one middle-aged woman Ajoke Ahmed, a passenger in the vehicle, had gone into deep labour.

    “The FRSC medical team at the Sagamu Accident and Emergency Clinic immediately examined her, but since the clinic is not equipped to take delivery, the ambulance was prepared to transport her to the nearest hospital.

    “ Within this process the expectant mother gave birth to a baby girl at about 1p.m. inside the command’s clinic.

    “A medical examination by the medical doctor confirmed the baby and mother to be in good condition”.

    Okpe added that the family of the mother had been contacted

  • Expressway to economic haemorrhage

    Expressway to economic haemorrhage

    The clamour for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has been a sing-song since 1999. Ironically, as the Federal Government intensifies its drive for FDIs, multi-billion dollar investments are wasting away – no thanks to the appalling state of critical infrastructure across the country. MUYIWA LUCAS reports that except the government moves fast, investments at major economic hubs may shut down. 

     

    He was full of excitement when he took off from the Apapa Port in Lagos en route Onne in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. But seven hours after, Sunday Adetona, a truck driver, was still within the vicinity of the Lagos port. He was held in the gridlock on the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway.

    As a first time traveller to Onne, Adetona was oblivious of what the trip had in store for him. Although he had heard of the poor state of the East-West Road, he encountered more than what he bargained for. And travelling for a long time, he came to a dead end near Eleme-Onne, where the road had been cut, making it impossible for him to reach his final destination.

    That section of the road had been impassable for two years, it however became nightmarish recently, following the collapse of the bridge leading into the two petroleum refineries in Eleme, the Onne Port complex, including Onne Free Zone; the Indorama/Eleme Petro-chemical Plant, Notore Fertiliser plant and many businesses within the corridor.

    It was learnt that the collapse of that the Eleme stretch of the East-West Road has crippled investments estimated at over $50 billion in the Eleme-Onne axis of the industrial hub of the state. Observers say the estimate might be a far-cry, given the concentration of of firms and investments belonging to the government, private and corporate bodies on the corridor.

     

    The Onne Port Complex

    The Onne Port complex, which took off in 1982 as the Federal Lighter Terminal (FLT), has over the years, grown in leaps and bounds, courtesy of a Public/Private Partnership (PPP). It is situated on the Bonny Estuary on Ogu Creek, which is about 25 kilometers south of Port Harcourt. The geographical area of the Port spans between NAFCON (Now NOTORE) Jetty and Bonny Island. It cuts across three local government areas of Rivers State – Eleme, Ogu-Bolo and Bonny. The land area of approximately 2,500 hectares is situated on the soil of Eleme Local Government Area, while the channel to the Port on Bonny River and Ogu Creek within Bonny and Ogu-Bolo Local Government Areas. Additionally, the jurisdiction of the Port covers operations at the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Jetty at Bonny, NOTORE Jetty and midstream discharge at Buoy 9. It is a major port in the region and it has several quays with facilities for cargo ships up to 60,000 grt.  It is also the main base for the offshore activity in the region and a large number of supply-vessels call at Onne every week. Stores and freshwater are available, as well as fuel and minor repairs.

    There are two major terminal facilities at Onne Port Complex. These are the Federal Ocean Terminal (FOT) and the Federal Lighter Terminal (FLT).

     

    The FOT

    The Federal Ocean Terminal (FOT) has a total quay length of 2,890 meters. This terminal which is deep and large was designed to accommodate and anchor bigger and ocean going vessels and to berth vessels of 40,100 to 50,000 DWT capacity.  It was envisaged to be the largest, deepest most modern Port in the West and Central African sub-regions and has potential for expansion to serve both local and international investors. Being Concessional to a multinational company, Intels Logistics Services (INTELS), the construction of the Ocean terminal, was designed to be in four phases. Three of this with 11 berths are completed and being utilised.

     

    The FLT

    The Federal Lighter Terminal (FLT) has a total quay length of 2, 022 meters. With the completion of FLT berth four in March 2007. The second, third and fourth berths operated by INTELS have been rehabilitated and deepened to 10 meters draft to accommodate moderately large vessels in addition to service boats. The first berth operated by Brawal has been rehabilitated and been deepened to eight meters draft.

     

    The Free Zone status

    The Port is designed as Oil and Gas Free Zone vide Federal Government Decree No. 8 of 1986. Currently about 150 companies are licensed to operate at the zone. Companies like Tenaries, Socotherm, Delta Environmental Services, West Atlantic Shipyard (WAS) etc. have added significant value to the economy of the country through their activities in pipe coating, pipe vending, waste treatment, boat building among others.

     

    Wasting investment

    The head of operations and technical services at the Oil and Gas Free Zones (OGFZA), which is the regulator of the Onne Free Zone, Mr. Adekunle Ajayi, confirmed that investment along the axis are wasting away and becoming unattractive. He blames this on the cut-off Eleme-Onne axis of the East-West Road. Collectively, he disclosed, businesses in that corridor, made up of INTELS, the West African Container Terminal (WACT), Brawal Shipping Company, all the IOCs represented in the free zone, is worth alone are worth more than $50 billion.

    The government investments and establishments affected by this development include OGFZA, the NPA, Nigeria Customs Service, the Nigerian Naval College and the Nigeria Immigration Service.

    Besides the identified investments, there are sundry businesses and government establishments on the corridor up to Ogoni. They are no longer accessible from Port Harcourt because of the failure of the road.

     

    Threat to FDIs

    OGFZA’s Managing Director Mr. Umana Okon Umana, is sad that the collapse of the road has left stranded, an economic hub that hosts, perhaps, Nigeria’s largest concentration of critical industrial concerns. He explained that apart from its adverse impact on existing businesses in the axis, the logistic crisis caused by the failed section of the road constitutes a serious deterrence to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) which the Federal Government has been campaigning for. “No foreign investor wants to stake his money where he cannot have access to,” Umana said.

    Commending the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) for its intervention, he suggested a holistic and permanent solution to the bad state of the road. The Rivers State Nyesom Wike lamented the economic loss to the federal and state governments in 2016. He spoke at a meeting with investors and government establishments in the axis. Both parties raised N3 billion to repair the failed section of the road spanning about seven kilometres. The money was said to have been disbursed to Reynolds Construction Company (RCC), the contractor handling the repair.

     

    A jinxed project?

    For most Nigerians and stakeholders, the East-West Road may have either become jinxed or a pawn in the country’s political chess game. Their reason: why should a 33-kilometre road, traversing five states in the Niger Delta – Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta and Rivers – be unattended to for so long? They said the road remained deplorable, despite unbundling it to four sections.

    Section I (from Warri in Delta State to Kaiama in Bayelsa State) is being handled by Setraco; Section II (Kiama to Eleme Junction in Rivers State) awarded to Julius Berger; Section III (Eleme Junction to Onna in Akwa Ibom State) being handled by RCC and Section IV (Onna to Oron) also in Akwa Ibom, awarded to Gitto. The total project cost which stood at N197 billion, had ballooned to N568 billion by last year, according to the Niger Delta Minister, Usani Uguru Usani.

    Since the award of the contract, Nigerians, including some lawmakers and the opposition political party have continually sought clarification on issues ranging from completion of the project, which was initially slated for 2010, then shifted to 2014 and now unknown, to the process of the award. For instance, the Section IV of the project awarded for N26 billion, initially had N9.5 billion added after variation.

    In February, youths from Eket in Akwa Ibom State, threatened to disrupt construction work at Section IV of the East West Road if the Federal Government continued with plans to withdraw the case against Gitto Constuzioni Generali, the contractor handling the motorway project.

    Their position followed an application filed by the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) in a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, seeking to withdraw a case instituted by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) against Gitto and others.

    The ICPC had in August last year, 2016, arraigned Gitto with former Minister of Niger Delta, Godsday Orubebe, and two officials of the ministry, Lawrence Alaba and Ephraim Zari, on corruption and related charges. The accused persons allegedly conspired to misappropriate N1.9 billion out of the N2.3 billion earmarked for payment of compensation to owners of properties marked for demolition in respect of the Eket – Oron Road dualisation project.

     

    Like Onne, like Apapa

    If the Eleme-Onne Road has been described as an economic drainpipe on the economy, the story of the roadc leading into Apapa Port is a tale of a rape on the proverbial geese that lays the golden egg. Like Onne, Apapa Port remains the largest, busiest and most lucrative business hub in the West African sub region. It was established in 1913 and construction of the first four deep water berths began in 1921. The Apapa Port is well equipped with modern cargo handling equipment and personnel support facilities. It boasts of four wheel gate of about eight meters for oversize cargoes and this has given the Port an edge over others in the handling of oversized cargoes. For improved operational activities and efficiency, the landlord Port model was introduced by the Federal Government and this later culminated in the concession of the terminals to private operators in 2006.

    Presently, the Lagos Port Complex has five private terminals operated by AP Moller Terminal Ltd (APMT); ENL Consortium Ltd (ENL); Apapa Bulk Terminal Ltd. (ABTL); Greenview Development Nigeria Ltd (GNDL) and Lilypond Inland Container Terminal. The Port also has two logistics bases – Eko Support Services Ltd and Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics (LADOL) and eight jetties. Sugar, salt and flour are produced in factories belonging to operators within the port.

    The concession has triggered vast expansions in line with international best practices in Port infrastructure but the efficiency in the facility is still greatly hampered. One of the hindrances to the efficiency is the poor state of road in the axis. Embarking on a journey on the Apapa Port Road is like going on a suicide mission.

    It has always been lamentations for travellers on the route as trucks have taken over the entire stretch of the dual carriageway, from Berger Cement to Tin Can Port. Trailers and fuel tankers have made motoring on the nightmarish.  Indiscriminate parking has reduced the carriageway, causing traffic congestion. Whenever the ‘heavens weep’, travelling on the Oshodi-Apapa expressway is unthinkable.

    A recent trip to the axis revealed the pitiable state of the highway between Coconut Bus-stop and Tin Can Port second gate. The entire stretch, littered with gullies and potholes, reflects the years of neglect the road has suffered. To avoid spending hours in the traffic, commuters now resort to using the services of commercial motorcycle operators popularly. In fact, most commercial drivers and motorists now navigate through Olodi-Apapa through Boundary, Ajegunle, to access Apapa, a longer route but a better alternative.

    The location of no fewer than 20 tank farms in Apapa has compounded the woes for commuters. The defence for this has been that with the dearth of functional refineries, Apapa remains the ideal place because of the massive importation of refined petroleum products through the seaports. Lagos, which enjoys a near monopoly of fuel importation in the country, thus became the preferred destination for fuel dealers to load products en route other parts of the country.

     

    Economic loss

    The President, Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote, once estimated that the economy was losing over N290 billion daily to the bad road.

    “The economy loses more than N20 billion daily and N140 billion weekly. This road affects businesses across the country. All our operations in the hinterland like Ilorin, Kano, are operating at a paltry 40 per cent capacity because of this,” Dangote told reporters recently.

    Many companies on the Apapa corridor have either collapsed or forced to relocate their offices and operations.

    The once busy Apapa Mall is fast becoming a “ghost mall”; more than half of the shops in the mall have wound up, including the Cinemas.

    The Managing Director of Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Usman, estimated the revenue target from activities at the Apapa ports at N250 billion in revenues. Stakeholders say described the estimates as peanut compared to the potentials of the Ports. They contend that if the NPA could have such targets with the sorry state of the road, what the government could rake in is in the realm of imagination if the roads are fixed.

    Besides, they want the government to plough back the funds money realised from the ports to fix the port roads- an amount that will be more than enough to do same.

    “Doing this will mean giving back to the geese its golden egg,” said Sanni Ayinde, a petroleum dealer in Apapa.

    Several containers are also said to be trapped inside the ports because of the gridlock in and out of the ports. Ships have also created a long queue on the high seas them cannot offload their cargo.

    Customs agents feel the heat, especially in the area of mounting demurrage since their containers are trapped inside the ports, while the terminal operators are unwilling to write off the cost. The development has affected the cost of freighting goods into the country as shippers charge a premium to bring goods into the country to cover the cost of staying a longer time going out of the country once in.

    Further losses to the economy comes in the form of diversion of cargoes meant for the Nigerian ports to neighbouring ports of Benin Republic and Ghana, the two ports that have over the years shown that they can conveniently take over the Nigerian shipping market, offering better turnaround time to shippers and importers.

    The Apapa Port road debacle is taking its toll on manufacturers as they have to wait for more time to take delivery of their raw materials

     

    What hope?

    After inspecting the rehabilitated failed portion of the Apapa – Ijora Bridge linking the Apapa Central Business District with the Lagos lsland last year, Power, Works & Housing Minister Babatunde Fashola gave assurance of a timely completion of the rehabilitation of access roads to Apapa/Tin Can Island Port-Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Depot at Atlas-Cove.

    The access roads included the construction of a new bridge, running parallel to the existing bridge from Liverpool Roundabout across the Port Novo Creek in Lagos. The minister, who acknowledged the deterioration of facilities within Apapa, attributed it to years of neglect and abandonment of the rail system. He said the Federal Government was working on plans to revitalise the rail system for haulage, stressing that the movement of heavy goods on roads was no longer sustainable.

    The Dangote Cement and Flour Mills Nigeria may have come to the rescue, offering N4.3 billion to repair a two-kilometer section of the Apapa Road in Lagos.

    But the fact is – the Onne and Apapa highways are in critical need of intervention. Such intervention would not only boost revenue but save the economy from bleeding to death.

  • Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway logjam: BRT to the rescue

    Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway logjam: BRT to the rescue

    Troubled residents and motorists on the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway will heave a sigh of relief following the introduction of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) by the Lagos State government on the route. But as the project progresses, motorists groan, report TAJUDEEN ADEBANJO and OLATUNDE ODEBIYI.

    Traffic wardens at different interchange points battle to ensure free vehicular movements; impatient commercial motorcyclists otherwise called Okada riders beat traffic light at every given opportunity; bus conductors call their destinations and some touts working for the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) chase commercial bus (Danfo) drivers picking passengers on the road instead of queuing in the garage.

    Welcome to Oshodi, the biggest terminal for commercial bus operators in the country hosting over two million passengers daily.

    The craze that traffic in this axis is will soon give way with the Akinwunmi Ambode-led administration’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). It will move between Abule-Egba and Oshodi. The passengers estimate on the corridor is about 230,000 per day, but it can go up to 300,000.

    BRT is a transport option, which relies on the use of dedicated ‘interference’ free segregated lanes to guarantee fast and reliable bus travel. It is a high performance public transport bus service which aims to combine bus lanes with high-quality bus stations, vehicles, amenities and branding to achieve the performance and quality of a metro system, with the flexibility, cost and simplicity of a bus system.

    The BRT buses run on physically segregated lanes and thus make them faster in a situation where there is traffic congestion. It is one of the major options available to the Lagos State government to tackle the huge public transport predicaments in the state.

    The regulator of the BRT scheme, the Lagos Metropolitan Transport Authority (LAMATA), has boasted that the heavily congested Oshodi-Iyana-Ipaja-Abule-Egba route would reduce by 40 per cent after the completion of the project.

    The road, the prototype erected at Iyana-Ipaja, shows that it would have two BRT lanes to run in the middle, starting from Abule-Egba towards Oshodi. The service lanes of the expressway are also to be repaired and made more motorable for the Danfo buses.

    A driver, Jide Oni, believed that it would have adverse effect on Danfo drivers’ business.

    But a passenger, who simply identified himself as Segun said, it would ease traffic gridlock on the road.

    “The way the construction was going, we might be left with just one lane. Imagine hundreds of buses packed on a single lane. The traffic might be worse than what government could think of,” Oni said.

    Segun doubted his conclusion, believing that government must have done her homework well before venturing into the project.

    The driver told our correspondents to look at the partition.

    “This is what I’m saying Oga journalist,” he said.

    After alighting at Iyana-Ipaja, the erected prototype for the project before the bridge showed two lanes for the commercial bus operators.

    After speaking with some Danfo drivers and passengers at Iyana-Ipaja, who lamented the logjam at Super Bus Stop near Abule-Egba, The Nation correspondents joined another bus to the place.

    There (Super Bus Stop), work has reached advance stage. Workers in LAMATA branding reflective jacket were working on drainage and demarcating concrete for the BRT lanes.

    Efforts to speak with the workers on site proved abortive. They mentioned one Julian as the only person allowed to speak with press. Julian was unavailable at every spot The Nation correspondents were directed to go and see him, trekking for over 30 minutes from Super Bus stop to Abule Egba Bridge and back to the bus stop.

    Some of the Danfo drivers lamented that big drainage dug at Super Bus Stop has made the place a no-go area.

    “We had to look for alternative route to get to our destinations. That of course added to the already hours wasted in the traffic. It’s also affecting our delivery,” Ola Akin, a Danfo driver said.

    Another Danfo driver, who did not mention his name, hailed the government for embarking on the project.

    A resident in the area, Oyewole Ogunbanjo, lamented that the construction work has increased traffic in the area.

    Ogunbanjo said: “Moving from Oshodi to Iyana-Ipaja is now tripled the number of hours we usually spend on the road side. The transport fare has also increased, because the traffic has made the drivers to increase the fare. The traffic is usually worse whenever it rains and it makes our journey tiring. I wish government can do something fast to ease the traffic in the area while the BRT lane construction is ongoing. There is nothing that we can do as residents to make the journey better for us, we just have to cope with it and I hope the construction would not take forever.”

    He noted that the government needs to think well on some of the decisions taken on road construction.

    “This Iyana-Ipaja road is small, the roads are not wide and they have come to construct BRT lane in the middle of the road. The space that would be left for other vehicles would be small. How would this gesture make transportation better in the area? If all motorists except the BRT have a narrow road to pass through, how would there not be traffic? I think the only option for government is to expand the roads. The expansion would also affect more people, because they would have to demolish some shops and houses on the road side which would make life inconvenient for others.”

    He said that not everybody would make use of the BRT.

    “Someone like me cannot queue for BRT, to and from my office in Oshodi every day. The long BRT queue is not what everyone can tolerate as it amounts to a waste of time. I can’t wait to enter BRT and I don’t think the construction of BRT lane would ease traffic in this area. The only thing that can ease traffic from Oshodi, through Iyana-Ipaja to Abule-Egba is train transport. If government can think of making train available along these routes, it would help to bring an end to traffic and life would be better for all,” he said.

    A passerby, Azeez Bamigbose, said the BRT lane construction is presently affecting the traffic on this road, saying, it has reduced the size of the road and vehicles have to manage the little size roads left.

    “We hope that the traffic on the roads would be reduced when the rods construction is completed,” he said.

    A National Union Road Transport (NURTW) worker, Adegboyega Adekunle, said when the road is completed, there would be no issue between the BRT and the yellow commercial buses.

    According to him, passengers would have more options on which vehicle they wish to board.

    “Usually BRT is cheaper than the yellow buses, but there can be long queue at the BRT bus stops; passengers would have to choose which pays them. The BRT would have their lane while the yellow commercial buses would also have their lane. Business would continue as usual in the area. Both buses would have their own passengers and none would affect the other.

    “The only fear is that government may have to expand the roads for the commercial yellow buses and other motorists, because the space left on the road, after the BRT lane is taken out would be small. Government may have to demolish some of the road side shops in order to expand the roads, else traffic would be built up on the express road,” he said.

    Another passerby in the area, Adewumi Bankole, described the initiative as good.

    She is, however, concerned on how the BRT lane would be constructed on the bridge that leads to Abule-Egba from Iyana-Ipaja.

    A roadside trader, who simply identified herself as ‘Iya Benedict’ pleaded with government not to chase them away from their selling point.

    “When the BRT lane is completed, there may be need to expand the expressway from the look of things. Government should please not make life uncomfortable for us. They should not stop us from our means of livelihood, but should do all its work considering all of us in mind,” she said.

    The Nation learnt that the work would entail an uninterrupted median BRT service, 11 pedestrian bridges, one bus depot and two bus terminals to be located at Iyana Ipaja and Abule-Egba.

    The BRT, according to LAMATA Managing Director Abiodun Dabiri, said: “The Oshodi-Abule Egba corridor is one of the busiest bus corridors in West Africa, with over 5,500 buses moving passengers per day. It is a critical link for millions of people living in Alimosho, Egbeda, Iyana-Ipaja, Ijaiye, up to Tollgate into Sango Ota in Ogun State.”

    He noted that the route was also strategic because Oshodi, with the proposed transport interchange project, was emerging the transport hub in Lagos.

    Acting Commissioner for Transport Prince Olarenwaju Elegushi said: “What we are doing along the Abule Egba axis is in line with the overall plan of the government to change the face of public transportation system in Lagos.”

    Mr Kolawole Ojelabi, LAMATA’s External Relations Specialist, told The Nation that would be completed in about 15 months.

    Reacting to people’s complaints on the traffic the construction is causing on the routes, Ojelabi said that cannot be avoided.

    “This is why we have the officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) along the routes and the contractor’s flags men to control the traffic,” he said.

    He appealed to motorists along the routes to drive with caution, obey traffic signs and avoid over speeding.

    In terms of the number of lanes that would be available on for other motorists, he said two lanes would be available to them.

    He admitted that the coming of BRT in the area would affect operators of Danfo buses because the state government Bus Reform Programme (BRP) is meant to take all the informal buses off the roads.

    He said: “We could have medium capacity buses that would be along the axis as well as all over the state. We could have buses that could contain between 22 and 40 passengers. An average Danfo would contain about 14 passengers. If you have a bus that would take 40 passengers, it would reduce the number of buses on the road, which would in turn have an effect on our health. If we have less number of busses on the roads, the level of emission from buses would be reduced. So in a way, all these airborne diseases, including cancer and lung diseases would also reduce.

    “All of these have its evaporating effect on the economy. When we have vehicles that could do turn around in good time, those who come to get jobs would be able to get jobs, one can travel far distance, and this has a lot of multiplier effect.  The Danfo drivers cannot understand this now. If you know the history of BRT in Ikorodu, you would know that it was initially through some acquisition. We are not going to ban the yellow buses; they would still be running on back corridor. The public will have choices and it would be a new situation for everybody.

    “It is going to be on a Public Private Participation (PPP). It is the private sector that would run the buses. That is what we have on Ikorodu road. LAMATA is not the owner of the buses; LAMATA is not the one that pays the drivers, so it is going to be thrown open to the members of the public. Those who have the capacity to run large bus operations are the ones that are going to employ the drivers. LAMATA does not want to be involved in the employment of the drivers or the operations of the buses. Ours is to provide infrastructure and make sure that we regulate the way these buses operate.

    “Lagos is a state with over 20 million population; So what we are saying is that we cannot solve these problems at a go, it is something that has to be done overtime and it is something that we have done on Ikorodu road and we are perfecting it, so that when we are extending it to other corridors, all those mistakes and drawbacks that you have seen on Ikorodu road, they would be not transferred to other corridors. On the attitude of the drivers, we are currently working on it, go and look at the attitude of the drivers of Blue buses on Ikorodu road and now use that to compare with others and you will note the difference. So that tells you that we are taking it gradually. It is not something we can solve in one day.

    “For the Iyana-Ipaja corridor, if you notice that picture very well, you would notice the bus stop area is bigger. There is a passing link. So if a bus is stopping at the bus stop and the buses coming do not need to stop, there is a passing link which the buses would go through.

    “We would install Intelligence Transport System (ITS) to cater for a breakdown on the corridor. The driver would just press a button to alert other drivers that there is a breakdown somewhere.

    “Commuters can also download BRT App.  It would show you the location of different buses at different points in time, that is part of ITS. Lagos BRT that is what you would download, you would download the app and with it you can monitor how the BRT buses are operating. If you are living in Abule-Egba for instance and you want to know when the next bus is coming to Abule-Egba bus station, maybe there are six buses on the queue, one would come in seven minutes, and the other would come maybe 10, another in 15minutes. So you can decide the one you want to enter and you don’t have to wait for too long at the bus stop.”

     

  • Senate seals private sector funding for expressway

    Senate seals private sector funding for expressway

    The Senate plans to facilitate private sector funding for the rehabilitation of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway in two years.

    A source close to the Senate noted that “major parties with interests in policy, funding and concession, as well as contractors engaged for the highway have agreed on major issues that will encourage private sector involvement in developing basic national infrastructure and alternative funding as a vital input for developing national assets.”

    He said: “This development will ensure public funds that will be devoted to this vital national asset will be free to be utilised in other federal highway.”

    The arrangement, the source said, “will guarantee that the highway will be completed within two years, a major goal of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.”

    He said the Senate President Bukola Saraki believed “the successful public asset management and private funding collaboration will signal the capacity of the economy to attract and expand the scope of private sector involvement in developing infrastructure.”

  • Julius Berger steps up work on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway

    Julius Berger steps up work on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway

    Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, the contractor handling Section One of the reconstruction of the Lagos/Ibadan Expressway project, has begun the installation of expansion joints on the popular “Long Bridge”.

    News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) correspondents, who took a trip on Section One yesterday, observed that work was ongoing on the Lagos bound carriageway of the Long Bridge.

    Section One spans from Ojota in Lagos to the Sagamu Interchange and handled by Julius Berger.

    Section Two, which spans the Sagamu Interchange to Ibadan, is being handled by Reynolds Construction Company (RCC).

    Workmen were working on the bridge, with other repairs going on simultaneously on various portions of the highway.

    The highway has been completed to the final layers on both carriageways between the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Redemption Camp and the Sagamu Interchange.

    The Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing engineer supervising the contract, Kayode Ibrahim, told NAN that expansion joints on the Long Bridge were being fitted.

    Ibrahim explained that special construction materials were being used in the reserved spaces called “Thorma Joints,” which are where the expansion joints are being installed.

    He, however, declined comments on when the installation would be completed, insisting that Julius Berger would complete the work “very soon”.

    The engineer explained that Julius Berger was working on the road’s shoulders (edges) between Wawa and Ibafo, to move traffic to the Ibadan-bound carriageway.

    He said this was to enable total and effective reconstruction of the Lagos-bound carriageway.

  • Section one of Lagos-Ibadan expressway ‘almost ready’

    Section one of Lagos-Ibadan expressway ‘almost ready’

    The Federal Controller of Works, Lagos, Mr Godwin Eke, has said the rehabilitation of section one of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway has reached 40 per cent completion. Section one of the road spans from Lagos to Sagamu interchange and is being handled by Julius Berger, while section two spans from Sagamu Interchange to Ibadan, and is handled by Reynolds Construction Company. Eke made the revelation while on an inspection tour of the road during the festive period.

    “This action to monitor the flow of traffic was necessitated by the insistence of the Minister for Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, who insisted that since there is some improvements on the road, there is a need to monitor and caution motorists who might be tempted to over speed, because there is usually temptation to over speed when driving on a smooth road like this,” he said.

    In  a similar vein, the Federal Roads Safety Corps Unit Commander, Ogunmakin, Ogun State, Mr David Ogunjana, expressed worry at the speed of vehicles on the reconstructed portion of the highway. While he appreciated the Federal Government for its efforts on the road, especially for being free of obstruction and low crashes compared to previous times, he advised road users to apply caution on their speed now that the road is smooth and free. “No obstruction, no gridlock, the only thing we are afraid of is over speeding; motorists should use speed limiting devices to monitor their speed,” he said.

    Motorists who plied the road during the yuletide also expressed satisfaction with the smoothness of the road and the free flow of traffic. For instance, a lawyer, who identified himself as Mr Femi Adeyemo, claimed to have been plying the road since 1980, praised the current facelift. He likened it to the “early years” of the road. He said though initially when construction work started, it was very difficult travelling on the road, but there has been a lot of improvement, particularly on the Lagos axis of the road.

    A truck driver, Mr Kola Adeyemi, also attested to the state of the road. “The road is okay now compared to a few months ago, it is smooth and no traffic, we thank government for the work,” he said.

    Another commercial bus driver who plies the Lagos-Ibadan route, Mr Musiliu Adewale, commended the free flow of traffic, but appealed for more warning signs to avoid accidents. “Our movement is free now; before, we spend more than two hours from Berger (Lagos) to Sagamu Interchange, but now it is just about 30 minutes,” he said.Adewale appealed for increased surveillance by traffic management agencies to regulate speed on the highway.

  • Torment on Lagos -Ibadan expressway

    Of late, plying the Lagos -Ibadan expressway has become a torment for commuters, especially those residing along the Mowe-Ibafo axis of Ogun State. It is rather sad that a journey that should ordinarily not take more than 15 -20 minutes now takes over four hours and even more. Recently, a fatal road accident involving multiple vehicles occurred on the road, claiming three lives. This unfortunate incident caused a serious gridlock that almost brought the whole of Lagos to a standstill.

    Being a major road that links Lagos, the commercial nerve centre of Nigeria to other parts of the country, it is of course one of the busiest roads in the country. The situation of the road becomes even more complex with the growing population of residential communities along the Mowe-Ibafo axis. This greatly increases vehicular movement along the route.

    However, ongoing repairs on some critical sections of the road which began about six months ago have enormously compounded the situation. It is disconcerting that the repairs of a major exit route with economic relevance and implication is taking so long. Julius Berger Plc which handles the repairs has been foot-dragging on the job to the consternation of many. Initially, when the construction firm began the work, it didn’t give commuters sufficient reason for optimism, considering its lackadaisical approach. Though, the firm has since relatively braced up, but the agonies and frustrations of commuters along the road linger on.

    As a result of on-going construction work which necessitated the narrowing of a long section of the road, especially the popular Long Bridge, gridlock lingering into the dead of the night has become a usual episode. Many residents are now compelled by the traffic situation to sleep outside their homes in order to avoid the terrible gridlock. The sorry sight of school pupils trekking hazardously home, sometimes through the scorching Lagos sun due to shortage of public transport since they were all trapped in traffic while transport fares tripled, would make even a heart of stone to melt.

    Aside the niggling gridlock on the road and resultant stress, security of lives has also become a serious concern. Since the road has been narrowed and traffic now move at snail speed, that is if it is even if it moves at all, robbers and other evil minded people now daily unleash terror on commuters along the route. In the last few weeks there have been numerous cases of daring gangsterism on the road in which commuters lose several valuables such as handsets, wrist watches, money, laptops among others. One of such incidences that is still very difficult for one to hurriedly forget involved a middle-aged woman who was thrown down the bridge by these dare devil hoodlums. The fear of hoodlums along the route has now become the beginning of wisdom. To worsen things, security personnel rarely patrol the road, as bad as things stand.

    The manpower lost to the traffic jam per hour, per day and per week is unquantifiable and irrecoverable as time and resources are daily lost to the traffic. It has been alleged that there are lots of intrigues behind government contracts and construction. Or how does one explain a construction work that has affected millions of lives and little seems to be achieved in terms of concrete results? The snail pace with which the company is working is not in tandem with the realities of the 21st century where things are done with civility and human considerations.

    Sadly, Julius Berger plc doesn’t seem to care a hoot about the condition of commuters and residents along the route. There are even unconfirmed reports that in spite of the much anticipated Yuletide season traffic rush along the route, Julius Berger’s staff working on the road would soon embark on their annual end of year vacation. If this were to be true, it only goes to show that our nation has become a banana republic where anything goes!

    Recently, there was a colossal road collapse in one of the Asian countries aired on CNN, where a major part of an express way collapsed leaving a gaping hole that claimed almost the entire road. Interestingly it was fixed within three hours and opened for people to traverse without any problem. That is how things are done in developed and progressive societies. There is a consciousness of time and conservation of energy and resources. Nigeria cannot afford to lag behind in science and technology, we must move at the same pace with the developed world if we want to discard the status of a third world country. It is quite unfortunate that such a repair work could take well over six months to complete. And no one is even sure of how long the work is going to take. Initially, the federal government said work would end by last November. This, of course, has turned a mirage.

    It is time for the federal government to pay close attention to the activities of the company handling the project as it is taking rather too long for its completion. More importantly, there is need for quality control as one side of the bridge that is recently completed is already developing potholes; this is between Wawa ends of the Long Bridge while coming to Lagos. It is important that the Federal Ministry of Works steps in right now to ensure proper assessment of the job so that it won’t be a case of a shoddy job; a situation where Nigerians will be left to suffer the same cycle of hardship on the road all over again.

    Perhaps, more importantly, it becomes imperative to have alternative routes connecting other parts of the country to Lagos. The fact that the nation cannot boast of other such routes is, indeed, the shame of a nation. Also, special consideration should be given to the grading and tarring of access roads on both sides of the Long Bridge as this will also a long way in reducing stress on the road.

    If, indeed, we are concerned about human lives as a people, now is the time for the federal government to pay better attention to the Lagos-Ibadan expressway and other such critical roads across the nation.

     

    • Mrs. Aruya wrote in from Arepo, Ogun State.

  • How I lost my brother on expressway, by painter

    A painter, Mr Tunji Oredipe, has relived how he lost his brother, Akeem, in an accident at  Gbagada bus stop, along Gbagada-Oshodi expressway, Lagos.

    Akeem died after he was hit by a car while crossing the road.

    According to him, “My brother was trying to cross the road without noticing that a car was coming on high speed. The car hit my brother, cut his body into pieces and he died instantly.”

    He said his brother went to buy electrical parts at Oshodi.

    “My brother boarded a bus from Oshodi and alighted at Gbagada Bus Stop. The car hit and killed him instantly while he was crossing the road.”

    Oredipe, who pleaded with the government to construct a pedestrian bridge at the bus stop, said his brother would probably not have died if there was a flyover there.

    He recalled the death of a woman and her three daughters about a year ago in the area.

    Oredipe said: “The woman was driving in her car with her three daughters when a man tried to cross the road without observing that a car was coming. She tried to avoid the pedestrian but instead of hitting him, her car hit the pavement. She and her three daughters died before they could be rushed to Gbagada General Hospital.”

    Residents and road users also pleaded with Governor Akinwumi Ambode to construct a pedestrian bridge at the bus stop.

    Many of them lamented the frequent deaths on the road through “reckless driving and over-speeding.”

    At Gbagada Phase II Bus Stop, Michael Adeiye, explained that crossing the expressway is risky, because pedestrians have to monitor two lanes on one side of the road and three lanes on the other side.

    He said it was confusing and dangerous for hundreds of people who used the road daily.

    A resident, Goke Adeyinka, said the construction of the bridge would ease movement within and outside Gbagada.

    Another resident, Abiye Williams, a farmer, described the bus stop as “walls of death”. He said it was dangerous for school children, who crossed the road daily.

    He added: “A lot of pregnant women also cross the road to get to Gbagada General Hospital. I call the bus stop the walls of death and I feel pained when I see people crossing because it was dangerous.”

  • FRSC to ensure safety compliance on Lagos-Ibadan expressway

    FRSC to ensure safety compliance on Lagos-Ibadan expressway

    As construction work resumeS on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, the Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Dr. Boboye Oyeyemi, has promised to ensure that  safety measures are observed on sites.

    He spoke at a joint meeting with the representatives of the Ministry of Works, Power and Housing and the two construction companies handling the road project, Julius Berger PLC and RCC.

    According to Bisi Kazeem, Head Media Relations and Strategy, in a statement yesterday in Abuja,  Oyeyemi, who was represented at the meeting by the Assistant Corps Marshal in charge of Policy, Research and Statistics,  Dr. Kayode Olagunju, expressed satisfaction with the commitment made by the construction companies to observe safety standards in the construction areas.

    He commended the Minister of Works, Power and Housing for directing the construction companies to strictly adhere to safety standards, promising that FRSC in discharging its responsibilities would continue to collaborate with the Ministry to ensure that safety measures are taken in the construction areas.

    The Corps Marshal identified a number of challenges that could undermine safety in the areas. These, he said include inadequate signage at the construction sites, illegal openings and u-turns at dangerous locations and deep potholes as well as failed portions. Others, he said are failed hard shoulders, flooding, crocodile cracks and improper and dangerous diversions as well as inadequate lighting around the sites which could create hazards at night.

    Oyeyemi urged the two construction companies to provide standard and appropriate road signs in all the construction sites and ensure that uniform and adequate signage are provided to guide the motorists. He gave assurances that FRSC will embark on joint field assessment patrol with the Ministry of Works, Power and Housing and representatives of the two construction companies to provide information on the location of the identified illegal openings for immediate filling and closure to traffic.