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Lagos partners French multinational to complete Light Rail Project

The Lagos State Government on Sunday disclosed that it had
signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a French multinational, Alstom
SA to complete its light rail project.

The
State Government, thus, said the passenger operation of the first phase (Marina
to Mile 2) of the 27-kilometre project might take off in 2022 with the MoU it
just signed with Alstom, a firm with 100 years of railway experience covering
60 countries.

This
was contained in a statement issued on Sunday by the Managing Director of Lagos
Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), Mr. Abiodun Dabiri,  noting that the MoU was sealed after a
comprehensive review of the rail project.

The
state’s first civilian governor, Alhaji Lateef Jakande had in 1983 conceived
Lagos Metroline Network. After military takeover on December 31, the project
was scrapped in 1985 by the military administration of Maj. Gen. Muhammadu
Buhari (rtd) at a loss of over $78 million.

The
rail project was revived under the administration of former Governor Bola Ahmed
Tinubu with a formal announcement of its construction in December 2003, but
could not kick-start its implementation due to paucity of funds.

Under the administration of former Governor Babatunde Fashola, the cost of the
rail project was reviewed from $135 million in 2003 to $1.25 billion in 2010.
Subsequently, its implementation took off, but was later halted due to economic
recession.

However,
a major relief came about six weeks ago when the French Government announced a
plan to support the state’s public transportation system and megacity agenda
with €200 million (83.7 billion) at the French-Nigeria Business Forum.


In his statement, DAbiri explained that the state government had engaged a
consortium of experts to undertake a technical due diligence on the Lagos Rail
Mass Transit (LRMT), especially the first phase which run from Marina to Mile
2.

He
said the consortium had developed a roadmap, which the state government
eventually accepted “to bring the railway project to passenger operations.”

Dabiri
said the consortium outlined their findings and proposed a roadmap “to complete
the civil infrastructure works and the operation & maintenance (O&M)
infrastructure that will be needed for the of passenger operation to take off.

“Based
on its final report, the consortium of Alstom Transport SA France has been
engaged for the procurement, engineering, construction, installation of
operation & maintenance moveable infrastructure and commissioning of
railway systems towards the commencement of passenger operations for LRMT Blue
Line project from Marina to Mile 2.”

Dabiri
added that for ease of implementation of the work to be done by Alstom SA, the
work plan had been divided into two phases, with phase one aimed at demonstrating
the non-public operation of the existing rolling stock before end of second
quarter of 2019.

“For
this purpose, a track length of about 3.0 km from Iganmu Station to National
Theatre will be electrified. This operation would be done with the rolling
stocks already supplied for the Blue Line project.

“This
phase would allow the completion of all the preliminary works that would lead
to the financing of the main works in Phase two. Phase one will be fully
financed by Lagos State Government through Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

“Phase
two, which is expected to be completed in 39 months, would entail the provision
and installation of railway operations’ systems for the project from Marina to
Mile 2 and the delivery of a passenger-ready Lagos Blue Rail Line by 2022.”

After
signing the agreement, a Director of Alstom SA, Mr. Guy Jean-Pierre, assured
that Alstom would work to ensure the delivery of the Blue Line to passenger
operation by bringing on board required expertise and experience in rail system
management.

Senior
Vice President Middle East and Africa, Mr. Didier Pfleger also gave assurances
that  equipped with proven reliable and
ecological solutions, the blue line would contribute to positioning the city
among the showcases of sustainable mobility in Africa.

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