President Muhammadu Buhari has agreed to inaugurate the Lagos Blue Rail on Tuesday, January 24, 2023, The Nation has learnt.
The state rail project, it was gathered, would be among other legacy projects to be inaugurated by the President on his official visit to Lagos State.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu had, during the completion of infrastructure ceremony on the 13-kilometrem first phase of Blue Rail Line on December 21, 2022, announced that President Buhari had graciously accepted to inaugurate the project this month.
Not only will the President inaugurate the first phase, he is also expected to turn the sod on the second phase of the Blue Line rail project, which will take the rail service to Okokomaiko on the Lagos-Badagry axis.
Sanwo-Olu said President Buhari would also be inaugurating the first phase of the Red Line rail service from Oyingbo to Agbado on the western flank of the state, a 37-kilometre stretch which second phase is to connect Oyingbo to Marina.
The first phase of the project moves from Mile 2 to Marina, covering five stations. The line is to be powered by electricity through a standalone Independent Power Plant (IPP).
The Marina and Mile 2 stations are being developed into an interchange with the assistance of Agence France Development (AFD).
Both train systems ware parts of the six lines under the Lagos Mass Transit Rail System (LMTR) reinvigorated by the Sanwo-Olu administration in April 2021 through the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN’s) Differentiated Cash Reserve Requirement (DCRR), which three banks – Fidelity Bank Plc, Access Bank Plc and Sterling Bank Plc – facilitated through a syndicated loan.
The President will also inaugurate the Lagos State Rice Milling Factory at Imota, near Ikorodu, and kick off the construction of the Fourth Mainland Bridge, which China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) will build as unveiled by the state government on December 30, 2022.
The Blue and Red lines are parts of the six rail lines and one mono rail, 14 Bus Rapid Transit corridors and 20 water routes, which are being massively dredged to complement massive works on the roads to improve effective transportation system in the state.
The rail projects, which are being coordinated by the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), is the first of the six pillars under the THEMES Agenda of the Sanwo-Olu administration in Lagos State and is a major part of the state’s Strategic Transportation Master Plan (STMP).
