That Lagos is a huge construction site with the light rail, the Lagos/Badagry Expressway, Ketu/Ikorodu highways, housing projects and other developmental projects in various stages of completion is an understatement. However, in this interview with the Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Dr. Femi Obafemi Hamzat, he tells Okwy Iroegbu-Chikezie that the government requires excess of $50 billion to pull through these many projects in her quest to make Lagos a mega city. Excerpts:
The State Government has embarked on the construction of light rail as an alternative means to road transportation, what is the progress report?
Let me explain it this way. When you carry people predominantly, it is a light rail, but when it is heavy duty goods like diesel, cars, etc, it is heavy rail. But, in most part of the world, it is light rail. It is the ecology or engine behind the rail system. Now, what we are doing in Lagos is the light rail, which is the one you are talking about. We have identified seven corridors in Lagos State where there can be rail.
So, to identify them differently, that is why we have the blue line and the red line. Those are the two that we are promoting. But there is also the green-yellow and others that we have identified, just like in London where you have the northern line, jubilee line, among others, so that people going from one location to another can know which route to take.
The same thing also applies in the United States where you have the 1st, the 2nd, the 3rd, the 4th, the 5th, the 6th lines so that you know which one to take. The blue line is from Okokomaiko to Marina. That is the one that we have started. At Orile, we are already building the stations.
What is the duration of the project?
Technically, duration is always difficult to say. Because duration is also a function of many things, we are doing the roads in segments. We are starting from Okokomaiko, National Theatre, Mile 2 and so on, the idea is to link up the state. We know we have Nigerians who have constructed rails in other parts of the world. So, we brought them. We said, ‘come home and do the job, instead of us getting experts from all over the world.’ The challenge is that in our generation, nobody has built any rail. The last one was built by the whites in 1903. So, it looks like it is difficult. My ultimate goal is to get the engineering right, do it well and, as I said earlier, much depends on funding.
What is the state of the Lagos- Badagry Expressway?
We are doing two-city changing projects; the rail and the 10-lane road project from Eric Moore to Badagry. The major challenge we are facing is funding because it is a project that will span many years. Even though we have medium frame term of budgeting framework, you plan resources a year, but you plan projects for many years.
So, the first lane is from Eric Moore to Mazamaza, which is already completed. That is Lot 1. The second stage is Lot 2, which is from Mazamaza to Okokomaiko. In doing that, the challenge is, we are through with the rail. Now we are building stations at Mile 2, Orile and in two other places.
There are two set of contractors working there. What we decide to do is we are doing relocation of services. We decided to slow down to see the total alignment for the two. So, the first challenge we are having is project interface. The second problem we are having is that these are different contractors, with different plan organisation, hierarchy and so on.
There will be interface problems in some cases. So, as they are building those stations, we deliberately slowed down the road at that place. In fact, those stations are now above 90 percent, so that the road contractor can now go in and do full work, instead of 20 or 25 percent.
So, the challenge is funding and the fact that we are doing two heavy projects. Ordinarily, when you are doing a road, you have to secure the right of way and so many other challenges, but when you are now doing a 10-lane it is a serious work. In the middle of that, there is also going to be a BRT. There will be a rail, there will be BRT. Now you must also know the challenges of securing the safety of the interfaces between the rail.
Is the completion date of 2015 for the Lagos- Badagry Expressway sacrosanct?
I told you the challenges that we are also having. Let me give you the statistics of this road. In order for us to do Lot 2, that is Mazamaza in front of the first gate to Okokomaiko, you need 1.7 million cubic metre of sand. Now, let us put that into perspective. If you lay two metres of sand, you will go to Sokoto and come back. That is the implication of having 1.7 million cubic metre of sand. Now, getting that sand in itself is a challenge and you must get it from somewhere. Now, you go into the deep sea and pump. It is possible that you don’t get sharp sand.
There are instances where you get sludge. We will not allow you as a contractor to put sludge on our road. Really, there are various factors. The resources are also important to us because we won’t shut down other projects. But given every other thing that we now know, we should be able to finish around 2014- 2015.
What is your view about Lagos generally?
Lagos is a city that elicits a strong emotional response from both those who know it and those who don’t. Experiences are varied but everyone can generally agree on one thing – it is without doubt the home of ambition, of dreams and endless possibilities. The western media’s definition of Lagos as an overpopulated city with crumbling infrastructure is a reductionist western view of a city which over 21 million people – from across the country as well as many parts of the world – proudly call home.
The only true identity anyone can claim for Lagos comes from its people and their heritage. Lagos is the collective hope and ambition of those twenty-one plus million people. Without them, Lagos would be inconsequential. They are the reason why our great city is the single largest market in Africa. They are the reason why Lagos is the only other financial services hub in Sub-Saharan Africa after Johannesburg. It is a place where every single person, regardless of ethnicity, financial status, gender or religion, wakes up every day believing that life-changing opportunities can and, indeed, will be found just around the corner. It is this ‘human infrastructure’ that makes this great city the most independent state in Nigeria today. Despite encumbered natural resources, (encumbered because of our warped federalism), Lagos is and has always been a city of endless possibilities and a shining example to the country, and other cities in West Africa.
As an emerging megacity, what are the challenges you think confront Lagos?
Lagos, like any other megacity, has more than its fair share of challenges to contend with. To help us reach our destination, we need good men and women – ordinary citizens, civil servants, politicians and entrepreneurs – to accept the challenge that our ambitions and aspirations demand of us. To roll up our sleeves with tenacity and great resolve to work together to realise our dreams and aspirations for the city of Lagos.
The physical and social infrastructures that we are building are designed to enable our people achieve their goals. Without these infrastructures, Lagos cannot function properly, serve its increasing number of inhabitants or compete on a global scale. The roads and bridges that we build will connect businesses to their markets, people to jobs, the sick to the hospitals and tighten the fabrics of the family unit. The water works we provide must deliver a reliable, usable water supply that supports our health and well-being and that of our families. The power solutions we put in place must provide the electricity we need to grow our businesses, do our jobs, educate our children and live our lives.
From your own point of view, what are that infrastructural challenges inherent in the city?
Infrastructure is without a doubt the most visible and impactful development deficit we have today. The amount of money required to meet the needs of an increasing population is more than $50 billion over the next 10 years. Raising this vast sum of money will not be easy and requires us to collaborate with the private sector through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to accelerate the delivery and maintenance of this much needed infrastructure. When we consider the value of these PPPs, we must assess them against our own benchmark, which takes into the account the needs of the people that will drive our development.
While addressing our ‘hard infrastructure’ needs, we must, in tandem, address our soft infrastructure needs. And by soft infrastructure I mean human infrastructure, our most distinguishing feature and the true asset of Lagos State. There can be no sustainable infrastructure development without sustained human capital development. It is the combination of the simultaneous investment in these two areas that will impact positively on Lagos States development trajectory. Creating an enabling environment for this approach to development requires an integrated and pragmatic approach to policy formulation and implementation. It requires us to build on the giant leap embarked upon by the current administration to place the state in an enviable position among cities around the globe. We must focus on more than just feeding the ‘stomach infrastructure’ of our people; or just concentrating on physical infrastructure. We must in essence address how physical infrastructure affects stomach infrastructure. We must focus on the full breadth of our human infrastructure requirements.
How can we tackle the socio-economic conditions in Lagos?
Increasingly, it is clear to me and others that we must as a people focus on some key issues which relate to sustaining the socio-economic development of Lagos State. These issues are very close to my heart and in my view hold the key to continuing on current path of turning Lagos into Africa’s model mega city, and the economic heart of the continent. This is important for me as someone who has over eighteen years’ private sector experience and also as a public servant in Lagos State for the past 10 years in different capacities. It is therefore easy to view Lagos from different prisms.
To my mind, there are four themes that we must work on over the next decade. They are service delivery, ensuring that we continue to build the infrastructure to meet our needs today, and for the future while focusing on efficient revenue generation and the best use of public funds.
Others are job creation, providing the opportunities our people need to fulfil their ambitions; knowledge and skills, enhancing the ability of our people to improve themselves and build an economy and workforce that meets our future needs in order for our youths to employ their God-given talent, and lastly health and well-being; ensuring that our people have access to health services and can live in an environment that enables all of us to be and do the best that we can, for ourselves and our families, and of course the great state of Lagos. The target is clear we must build a state that our children will be proud to inherit.
