Governor Babatunde Fashola said yesterday that the residents of Lagos State would soon begin to enjoy cable car transportation, adding that the project was on the verge of completion. Fashola said the introduction of the cable car transportation was one of the intermodal transportation models embarked upon by his administration in line with the global practices.
Speaking at the 2013 World Habitat Day held at the Adeyemi Bero Auditorium, Alausa, Ikeja, the governor described the innovation as vital to achieving the mega city status. He said his administration would activate every means of transportation in the state to reduce the number of vehicles on the road which, according to him, translates to unhealthy volumes of carbon emission.
The governor described the theme of this year’s World Habitat Day: “Urban Mobility” as apt, saying that his administration was already working on arrays of affordable intercity modes of transportation to ease movement, because over 70 per cent of the residents live in the metropolis. Fashola, who spoke through the Commissioner for Transportation, Comrade Kayode Opeifa, disclosed that the state would soon commission the Blue and Red Rail lines, saying when completed, estimated 1.6 million Lagos residents would be transported daily.
He said: “By the end of 2014, the Blue Line should transport Lagosians from Mile 2 to Marina, a journey of about 13.5 kilometres, in the shortest possible time. “We are also proud to say that the cable car, a veritable means of fast and unhindered transportation, is on the verge of completion.
“To grow the economy of our dear city of Lagos into one of the model Mega Cities in Africa, embracing the best practices in the transportation/urban mobility cannot be overlooked. “Lagosians must accept the concept of transportation as safer and more economical. We must recognise that individual transportation translates to more vehicles on the roads, which translate to an unhealthy volume of carbon emissions.
“Hence, our drive is to provide a combination of transportation that would include road, rail and water ways. The challenges, however, are formulating more innovative changes aimed at ensuring the sustainability of these policies.” On his part, the Commissioner for Physical Planning, Olutoyin Ayinde, said the theme of this year’s World Habitat Day was not determined by his ministry, but by the United Nations.