Lagos State yesterday made history, following the completion of infrastructure work of the Blue Rail Line Project.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who took the first ride, along with Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat, House of Assembly Speaker Mudashiru Obasa and other government officials, also disclosed that the project will be commissioned in January next year.
The train ride from Iganmu, the National Theatre Station, took barely 15 minutes. It started by 1.34pm and ended by 2.02pm.
The train, an air conditioned rail car, one of the three that would be used on that corridor, came back to the National Theatre Station.
Economic experts hailed the project, saying that it will accelerate growth and enhance transportation in the Centre of Excellence.
Lagos accounts for more than 30 per cent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP). It is the nation’s economic nerve centre, home to some 10 per cent of the country’s population.
Lagos has the largest concentration of corporate activities in Nigeria, including the operational head offices of the major financial institutions, manufacturers and services providers.
Sanwo-Olu said with the completion of construction, the stage is set for the official commissioning of the legacy project, the first, wholly funded train project by a sub-national government in Africa, in January, by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Former President, Nigeria Institute of Building (NIOB), Mr Kunle Awobodu said the Blue Rail Project would drive economic growth, noting that transportation is key to economic development.
He said artisans who live downtown and work in high-brow areas of Lekki, Ikoyi and Victoria Island will be best served as they come from distant areas to work in those upscale areas.
According to him, the implication of high cost of transportation is that workers are delayed and do not put in the maximum eight hours required for them to work because of delays.
He said the cost of transportation and the delay on the road have made workers to devise many survival measures, including abandoning their families, sleeping at workplaces and construction sites, with many unhealthy implications. (Nation)