My 2023 Projections—-Governor Sanwo-Olu

<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>My 2023 Projections<br &sol;>&NewLine;<a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a> reports that while political parties and public office seekers are exhuming an avalanche of strategies to attain victories in the 2023 general elections&comma; Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State is currently preoccupied with a different projection&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;To the governor&comma; the 2022 deadline set for the completion of the Lagos Rail Mass Transit <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;punchng&period;com&sol;">&lpar;LRMT&rpar;<&sol;a> projects being undertaken by the Lagos State Government and the full operation of both Blue and Red Lines by 2023 is his major focus&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;On Saturday&comma; the Governor defied the rain for a physical assessment of the progress made in the construction of both Blue and Red Lines&comma; inspecting the rail corridors to evaluate the ongoing work&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The inspection came five months after Sanwo-Olu performed the groundbreaking ceremony to kick off the construction of the 37-kilometer-long Red Line&comma; which starts from Agbado and terminates at Oyingbo&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The Blue Line project&comma; which started in 2010&comma; is currently at over 80 percent completion&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The rail projects are being undertaken by the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority &lpar;LAMATA&rpar;&comma; an agency under the Ministry of Transportation&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The Deputy Governor&comma; Dr&period; Obafemi Hamzat&comma; Commissioner for Transportation&comma; Dr&period; Frederic Oladehinde&comma; and other members of the State’s cabinet joined the Governor in the inspection that started at the Ikeja Terminal of the Red Line project&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Sanwo-Olu&comma; visibly elated by the progress of work&comma; said the take-off of the Red Line project represented a major breakthrough for his administration in its drive to deliver an integrated transportation model that would ease road congestion in the State&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;He said&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We are excited about the ongoing rail projects being undertaken by the Lagos State Government and there is a huge number of jobs being provided to Nigerians engaged by the contractor at all stages of the construction work&period; There are over a thousand personnel working at the Marina Terminal alone&period; We are happy with the extent of work on both projects&period; What we have seen at the Ikeja Station&comma; which is the second biggest station after the one being built at Marina&comma; gives us so much hope that the projects are on course&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Based on the physical assessment&comma; we are believing that the timelines set for the completion of major engineering work are on track&period; We are also believing that our contractor is working on schedule&period; Although there are few hiccups&comma; we believe we will be able to address and surmount them&period; By the last quarter of 2022&comma; we hope that trains would move on both corridors&period; And by 2023&comma; we expect to see the full operation of both Blue and Red Lines&period;”<br &sol;>&NewLine;Henceforth&comma; Sanwo-Olu said there would be quarterly assessment and monitoring of the two projects&period; By doing this&comma; he said the State Government would avoid the pitfalls that stalled the progress of the Blue Line prior to his administration&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;There are six overpasses being constructed at strategic level crossing points along the Red Line corridor to eliminate interactions between the rail tracks&comma; vehicular and pedestrian traffic&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The Governor also stopped at Yaba Terminal of the Red Line&comma; assessing the work done&period; He later moved to the Oyingbo Train Terminus&comma; where construction was at the third level toward completion&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;There will be a stabling extension from Oyingbo to Iddo&comma; which would be used as a parking lot for the train&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The Marina Terminus of the Blue Line&comma; which will be an elevated station&comma; would be a transportation hub that would offer intermodal transportation services&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;At Marina Station&comma; not only are we building rail tracks&comma; underneath we will have a bus station as well for the BRT and First-and-Last Mile buses&period; There will also be a ferry service at the Marina Station for those who want to travel through the waterways&comma;” Sanwo-Olu said&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The Governor hailed the Chinese contractor for the speed of the construction but said there was a need for knowledge and skill transfer in order to retain the engineering skills brought into the projects by the Chinese contractor&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Sanwo-Olu directed engagement of engineering students at the State-owned Lagos State University &lpar;LASU&rpar;&comma; University of Lagos &lpar;UNILAG&rpar; and Yaba College of Technology &lpar;YABATECH&rpar; through internship programme to enable them have practical knowledge of rail construction&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;