REDLINE RAIL TO COMMENCE TEST-RUN NEXT WEEK – LASG
… Says Mode of Funding for Lekki Airport, Fourth Mainland Bridge to be Revealed Soon
The Honourable Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Gbenga Omotoso has disclosed that the Redline Rail from Agbado to Iddo will commence a test run in a week.
He disclosed this at a Press Briefing on Thursday organised to announce the commencement of the 2024 Ministerial Press briefing by the State’s Ministries, Directorates and Agencies. The event is an annual programme where members of the State Executive Council render accounts of stewardship to Lagosians.
According to the Commissioner, the event tagged: “Year 2024 Ministerial Press Briefing”, is scheduled to fully kick off at the Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre on Wednesday, 23rd April and will end on Tuesday, 28th May, 2024.
Omotoso said that for a period of two months, various interest groups and stakeholders will be invited to take a ride on the train to have a feel of the service the mode of transportation will render on the corridor.
Responding to an inquiry on the state of the roads leading to the Redline train terminal, the Commissioner noted that the train was part of the intermodal transportation system and as such connecting roads to rail and ferry facilities will be fixed for easy access.
On the Fourth Mainland Bridge and the Lekki Airport, Omotoso said foreign investors will arrive next week to deliberate on the mode and sources of funding for the projects which are positioned to change the economy of the State. He noted that the Lekki Corridor, with the sprawling estate development and other projects such as the Lekki Free Trade Zone, Dangote Refinery, and Lekki Deep Sea Port, is no doubt the new face of Lagos.
The investment and human traffic attracted to the zone have made the construction of a new Airport inevitable as the Murtala Muhammed Airport alone can no longer serve the State effectively.
He averred that the construction of the Fourth Mainland Bridge as alternative exit route from that axis to the mainland is also a project conceived to address an envisaged human and traffic congestion which the Lekki-Expressway will not be able to contain in the near future.
The food security initiative of the State, according to him, is on track with the Ounje Eko intervention programme (discount weekly market), Fresh Food Agro-Hub at Idi-Oro and the constitution of a welfare committee, amongst others, will ensure that no Lagosian goes to bed hungry.
The Imota Rice Mill, he revealed, is also fully operational even though insufficient rice paddy was hampering it to produce at full capacity. He condemned the attitude of produce buyers who rebag the Eko rice in bags branded with foreign producers’ labels thereby making Eko Rice less visible in the market.
The Commissioner explained that the Ministerial Press Briefing will serve as a platform for the Heads of various Ministries to inform the Public on achievements and efforts to deliver the mandate of the Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu Administration and dividends of democracy to Lagosians as embedded in the developmental pillar of the T.H.E.M.E.S Plus Agenda.