Light rail: Fashola woos British, other investors

As work progresses on the first phase of the 61-kilometre Lagos-Badagry Light Rail Project christened the Blue Line, Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola has wooed British and other investors for the concession of the second part of the rail project christened the Red Line. Governor Fashola, while playing host to the British Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for International Development (DFID), Mr. Stephen O'Brien at the Lagos House, Marina, said the Red Line which, according to him, "is waiting to be taken," offers so much options for collaboration.

Recalling that the first rail in Nigeria was built by the British, Governor Fashola declared: "With the very strong history and experience your country brings into rail development, I think that this is where rail operators should be heading. The transportation business here is very serious business. It is big, growing and it is not near its full potential yet."

Fashola said his administration would also welcome both ferry terminal and operators to take operational concession for water transportation in the state. He pointed out that the government has already completed three ferry terminals and hope to find serious operators to concession them to.

Expressing his willingness to discuss details of such collaboration, Fashola said the best way would be for a British business delegation to visit Lagos and spend some days during which the entrepreneurs would go from sector to sector to see what opportunities for investment appeal to them.

"You cannot effectively market Lagos on slides and videos. It is for you to see not only the challenges, but also the opportunities that lie side by side, if not inherently, in those challenges," the Governor said. He suggested that the coming Easter Carnival might be a good start for the entrepreneurs to see what investment opportunities lie in tourism in the state.

On the on-going Blue Line project, Governor Fashola said that his administration thought it inconceivable that the city could continue to grow without a sustainable intra-city mass transit programme. He added that the government thought that although the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system was making tremendous progress, it could not sustain the growing population alone.

"We are developing the water sector and integrating ferries and rail now at different levels of work in progress. But in our Master-plan, they are fully integrated and will begin to connect where they are not already doing so", he said adding, "For us, the idea to start the infrastructure was both instructive and deliberate."

Fashola said the thinking of government was that "with the growing population, it was necessary to provide the infrastructure that will enable our people to actualize their dreams.

"We know that as a government, we are limited to what we can do. Our biggest contribution would be to enable things to happen, unleash power of people and, therefore, we know that their normal needs are Shelter, Clothing, Housing, Feeding, Healthcare and the provision of the environment that will enable that to happen is our responsibility", the governor said.

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