AFRICA

Lagos Orders Additional Coaches For Blue, Red Rail Lines From China

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Thursday, said his administration had procured additional rolling stocks for the Blue Line and Red Line rail operations, to bring more relief to millions of Lagos residents.

He said the additional rolling stocks were expected to arrive in Lagos before the end of the year.

The Lagos State team, through its partners, secured an agreement for the additional rolling stocks for the Blue Line and Red Line rail lines to be ready within a year and delivered before the end of the year as against the normal two-year period it would have taken for the construction company to build the coaches.

Speaking during a meeting of Lagos State Government officials with the President and management of the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) at its headquarters in Beijing, China, Sanwo-Olu reiterated his administration’s commitment to the completion of the second phase of the Blue Line rail project and flag-off of the commercial operations of the Red Line rail project.

“We have made requests for additional rolling stocks for Red Line and Blue Line. That conversation is ongoing. We have started making payments and hope that because of our commitment, we will get those rolling stocks before the end of the year.

“It would improve the journey experience of our people. It would improve citizens’ appreciation of what the government is doing to reduce transportation pressure in a big city like Lagos.

“With the new rolling stocks, we will have a more predictable journey time; the commuters and passengers would be more committed and we will see an improvement in the quality of lives and reduction of traffic gridlocks in the city,” the governor said.

Sanwo-Olu was accompanied to the meeting by the Commissioner of Transportation, Mr. Oluwaseun Osiyemi; the Managing Director of Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), Mrs. Abimbola Akinajo, Chairman of the Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Transportation, Honourable Temitope Adewale and his Environment parastatals counterpart, Hon Rasheed Shabi and other top government officials,

He informed the CCECC team that his government had promised over 22 million Lagosians that it would solve the traffic and transportation challenges they currently faced, hence the need for the red line to take off without any further delay.

The governor, who expressed satisfaction with the pace of progress of the Red Line project, hinted that the state was ready to inaugurate the Red Line rail for commercial operations as soon as the presidency communicates the availability of President Bola Tinubu, who had agreed in principle to officially commission the project.