Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), is bent on ending his tenure in a very convincing way. The Governor formally flagged off the operation of a fleet of 100 new Air-conditioned buses made possible by the partnership of the LAGBUS Asset Management Limited and one of its franchisees Metro Bus
This according to the Lagos state Government is aimed at building a reliable and sustainable multi- modal transport system that is driven by the private sector.
The Governor who spoke at the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) Yard, Oshodi added that the purpose of the vision is clear but its ultimate goal is prosperity for the generality of the people which can only be delivered in a structured partnership with the private sectors.
He added that it is only by creating opportunity for private sector to take ownership and employ people, provide services that government can really can deliver the prosperity of her dreams.
Governor Fashola revealed that from just 150,000 passengers per month in 2007, the State is moving over 1.6million people every month with about 200 ferries already licensed and owned by the private sector, adding that more is yet to come.
In his words; “So what we are doing on land today is already taking place on water and what we expect to see when all of the jetties are commissioned, is extension, bigger capacity ferries financed by banks and owned by individuals and small companies and then our job really would have been done.
“For now, there are a lot of water taxis carrying 16 to 24 passengers and there are almost 200 of them and everywhere you look on our waterways up to Ijegun- Egba you would see them. People are moving on a daily basis and a lot of employment is going on there”, he stressed.
He explained that the BRT system was all about empowering private sector and that the first partners were the road transport unions who owned the old buses on Lagos roads, adding that the government convinced them that if they could change their buses the face of transportation in Lagos would be changed.
“They agreed and bought the first set of buses. They took loans, paid off the loans, recapitalized but again the environment in which they invested then has changed substantially”.
Tracing the origin of the first set of BRT buses, the Governor said it was the positive spin-off of a partnership with the private sector.
“Government did not own the BRT buses; it was private sector that owned them. Our job was to build the roads, the bus shelters to maintain and manage them while they ran their buses but that environment at the time they were borrowing money at One Dollar at 118 Naira and interest rate at 10 percent has changed completely”, he added.
Fashola explained that when people see aging buses that are not being replaced on the roads, it is not because government is not efficient but because the private sector is being incapacitated by financial regulations and economic policies of the Federal Government that are not helping them to grow.
“That is the reality because we expect them to now borrow money at N210 to One Dollar at 25 percent and we expect them to buy buses and keep them at the same prices. What kind of economy is that?”
“The Federal Government has also announced that it will increase tariff for the buses, so this is the environment in which the bus operators do business. And it is an environment we must begin to pay attention to if we must see growth in this industry”, he emphasized.
Governor Fashola also saluted the courage of the investors for venturing to dare in spite of the difficulties of the market, adding that the new investment will offer 1500 new jobs as well as provision of WIFI internet connection on board the air-conditioned buses.
In terms of facilities for maintaining the buses, the Governor stated that the State Government currently has a maintenance yard at Cappa and Bolade and is looking at the possibility of entering a structured partnership towards building a bigger maintenance yard that can service everybody’s investment and provide an opportunity.
Governor Fashola finally urged all residents of the State who have not collected their Permanent Voters Cards to go and do so and ensure that they vote rightly to ensure the continuity of policies in Lagos that brought about the new high capacity buses adding that the level of development in the State should not be entrusted to an inexperienced candidate being paraded by the opposition party.
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