About 37 years after the Lagos metro-line project was aborted, the state has yet to recover from the colossal losses resulting from the action, RASHEED BISIRIYU reports Expectations were high when th
e Lagos State Government signed an agreement with Interinfra, a consortium of 19 French firms, in the early eighties for the construction of a metro line.
Ironically, the contract was terminated in 1985, the year the rail project was meant to be delivered and the nation paid a heavy fine for this. “The other side, which the Buhari group tends to promote, is that Nigeria was already heavily indebted and that the country could not afford the indebtedness that would arise from the project.”
Jakande’s successor, Air Commodore Gbolahan Mudashiru, who was favourably disposed to the project after the committees he set up to review it had recommended its continuation, became helpless when a more superior power ordered its cancellation. Many have thus held Buhari responsible for the cancellation and this his political opponents used to taunt him, especially during electioneering.
The Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority also said, “The metro-line project was scrapped in 1985 by Muhammadu Buhari at a loss of over $78m to the Lagos taxpayers.” While the Lagos metro was abandoned, Egypt and Ethiopia were reportedly making progress on their rail projects. They have not only been completed but continually improved upon for the benefit of their respective citizens.
Meanwhile, the abandoned metro line has metamorphosed into a light rail project being developed by LAMATA on behalf of the state government. The initial $135m proposal was part of the Lagos Urban Transportation Project to be implemented by LAMATA. But the contract awarded to China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation has suffered many delays, which LAMATA attributes to paucity of funds among other challenges.
Apart from the Blue Line, the governor disclosed that his administration would be starting the construction of the Red Line project from Agbado to Marina, adding that advertisement had been made inviting investors for the construction of four other rail lines under a Design, Build, Operate, Maintain and Transfer model of Public-Private-Partnership arrangement.
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