The Lagos State Government is set to buy new boats and ferries as part of measures to improve water transportation and leisure in the state, the acting Commissioner for Transportation, Anofi Elegushi, has said.
He said the state government was investing massively in water transportation with a target to move towards eight per cent share of transportation activities from its present two per cent position.
Elegushi, who spoke at a press conference on the activities of his ministry to mark the second anniversary of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode administration, added that the state government had approved Marina and Mile 2 as a hub of its planned intermodal integration service involving rail, road and water transport services.
According to him, the ministry was in talks with various promoters and partners to provide ferries and manage ferries operations.
Elegushi stressed that the provision of water transportation infrastructure and safety gadgets had significantly made Lagos waterways safer and more acceptable to the people.
He said the reviving of the state-owned LagFerry by its restructuring would ensure that government was actively promoting water transportation.
He said that the state government had awarded the concession of Mile 2 terminals to Messrs Crowns worth Nigeria Limited, adding that a full complement of mall, office complex, recreation and water transportation facilities would be made available.
Elegushi said that the Lagos waterways would be continuously cleared of hyacinths under the “keep the waterways clean” programme.
Speaking on the intermodal project, he said it would be executed with the World Bank facility through the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority and the support of the Nigerian Ports Authority.
On efforts to improve the traffic situation in Lagos, Elegushi said, ‘’We have adopted various engineering solutions along with improving the traditional methods by which traffic will be measured,” adding that the introduction of lay-bys had reduced travel time along the Ojodu Berger-Obalende axis to about 20 minutes.
He added that seven of such facility had been constructed even as he hinted of plans to build two others along Ikorodu-Ketu road.
He also promised that the enforcement agencies of the government would continue to ensure free flow of traffic even as he stressed that errant officers would be punished in line with the laws of the service.
Elegushi warned members of the public not to attack any of the state’s enforcement officials, noting that the Road Traffic Law 2012 schedule 1 listed such offence as punishable with a fine of N100,000 or a three-year imprisonment or both.
