The governor of Lagos state, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, said he will ensure the state has an automobile assembling plant within the next two years. He said this at the commissioning of the Ikeja bus terminal in Lagos on Thursday, where he also revealed that 5000 buses would be introduced into the state’s economy in the next 3 years. He said, “in the last three years, we have committed to rebranding and providing a new integrated transport system to support our growing population. We have reinstated and completed the infrastructures that will support the daily needs of our people to meet their connectivity and mobility needs. The Ikeja bus terminal is one of our flashy transport infrastructures under the state road ad bus reforms ministry.
“This first phase of this program will see thirteen new bus terminals introduced including major terminals at, Yaba, Oshodi Ojota, Agege and the already completed tbs terminal. We have commenced the introduction of 5,000 new buses into the Lagos economy in the next 3 years. We will inject 820 environmentally friendly high capacity buses in the first phase of this reform by September 2018. 300 new bus stops depots are under construction and intelligent transport system that will also aid Lagosians to plan their journey and public transport system.
“On behalf of the people of Lagos state, I want to quickly acknowledge the approval of Mr. President for the import duty waver received on the buses in the phase one of this program. At the next phase, we will start to assemble these busses in Lagos to create job opportunity for our people. With Our goal is to have an assembling plant in Lagos within the next 20 months in Lagos. Our concentration is not only on road and bus transportation, we are promoting none authorize transport, providing space for cycling and walking to give our people more choices in other to promote a healthy living.
“Presently, work is going is ongoing on the 27-kilometer blue line rail project from Okokomiko west of Lagos to Marina in central Lagos. We are in discussion between road investors and stakeholders on our urban rail project which we also refer to as our red drive which will run from Alagbado to Marina axis. The success of a highly populated cosmopolitan smart city-state like Lagos is strongly dependent on the efficiency of the transportation system. We are committed to a functional, efficient and integrated transport system which will support our population and facilitate our commerce. We will continually work till we achieve these objectives and we will always count on your usual support.
