by Chinedu Brown
The Lagos light rail project which has been touted to be the flagship of light rail projects in the country now has a new completion date, 2022. This is according to a statement by the Managing Director of LAMATA, Mr Abiodun Dabiri.
The project has been postponed more than three times, and on those occasions, the state has not been able to effectively justify the reason for postponement. Recently it was alleged that the reason for the delay has been the challenge of right away experienced by the government. But from all indications, it seems that the delay experienced in the implementation of this ambitious project has been that of funds.
Lagos state government has just signed a memorandum with a French multinational company, Alstom SA to complete the project.
The Managing Director of LAMATA (Lagos Agency in charge of the project) said the consortium of Transport SA France has been engaged for the procurement, engineering, construction, installation of operation and maintenance moveable infrastructure and commissioning of railway systems towards the commencement of passenger operations for LRMT Blue Line project from Marina to Mile 2.
LAMATA MD said the work plan has been divided into two phases, with phase one aimed at demonstrating the non-public operation of the existing rolling stock before the end of second quarter of 2019. He continued that a track length of about 3.0 km from Iganmu Station to National Theatre will be electrified. This phase according to him would allow the completion of all the preliminary works that would lead to the financing of the main works in Phase two. Phase one will be fully financed by the Lagos state government through IGR. But can state government state government directly invest in this project from its cofers
Phase two is now expected to be completed in 2022, and it entails the provision and installation of railway operations’ systems for the project from Marina to Mile 2 and the delivery of a passenger- ready Lagos blue line.