There is a way you go by this where the Government does not need to spend one kobo.

What the Lagos state government should do is to

1) Commercialize road ("sell" all the road in lagos)
2) Sell 3 to 4 License to operate transport
3) Set up a transport Authority


Commercialize Road (Sell all Road in Lagos State)

What you do is to have all the roads in Lagos state in sold to road contractor Firm for a period 5 years

The road firm will
1) Own
2) repair Pot holes
3) Maintain markings and trafic Lights
4) Clean Roads

The roads will be given colours to show the owners of the road, so that when there is a problem we know who to point to. The road firm will bid for this roads and they will be monitored. For competition and development there should be 5 blocks of licences that 5 and more road firm should bid for.
There must be an analyses of what the companies will gain.

A road is like a house you can make alot of money from it. The five companies will get access to a road fund that will be set up by the state government. Where there is traffic the Government can or will setup mini toll gate for Private car Users.

Sell Transport Licenses

Instead of Brt and co. you dont need to involve yourself in that. Just provide four licenses with one going for a token fee to NURTW. The companies that shall bid for this will comform to these rule before they are confirmed onwers of the Licences but since you have the brt already you can sell the license.

1) They will provide buses of the same brand for instances if it is Toyota buses it must be all true
2) They will provide back up mechanic shop ( all this to avoid dumping)
3) They will operate Simple and Cooperate Taxis
4) They will operate Aircondition Bus System and Non Aircondition Bus System
5) They will operate by routes in only lagos state
6) They will operate a ticket system could be cash for ticket or by prepaid card system

The Benefits of having a License

1) Tax will be waived by state for 5 to 10years as the state may deem fit
2) There will be no Extortion by policemen
3) The buses and cars used for transportation imported will have some tax exemption.
4) The companies will be the only authorized ones to move Goods in the state
5) The companies will be given the first right to reject or accept The future running of a[b] train system that will entail underground and light rail service[/b].

The cost of the licences will be in the region of $100 million. If you watch very well the bus system now we have the banks are already investing in it you just need to organise you will make money for Lagos state.
The state government will make a cool 400million dollar or even more as it will by bid may be on radio or something.

SET UP A TRANSPORT AUTHORITY.

Their job will be to set up
1) Transport police officer
They will arrest and prosecute any trafic offender.
2) You must have a Lagos state Car Tax
Like in singapore where the car you drive has little or no value compared to the money you pay to drive the car. Let me explain.

when you buy a car of say $10,000 you are to pay another $10,000.
When you dont want to drive the car again you can take your $10,000 back.

So to those who have 5 cars will think twice before they buy 2 cars. It will not be easy to enforce this in Lagos but the effect will be so wonderful that Lasgos and any city in the world will be at the same level.

The public transport and their operator will be exempted from this.

I dont have all wisdom and I know there are people that can fine tune these thoughts. I do it for My beloved country Nigeria

The government must show the way. For me or you to put our money the system must be published and advertised. The system where things are done in the dark as if you gambling will not allow for true business men to come out and invest in the business of transportation.


For the money bags to put their money into transport you must have incentives and the conducive environment. There must transparency as we hard in the telecoms project. The money bags know that having sole authority by a government without knowing the government personally is a good deal. Let me put it down in mathematical terms for you.

If 4 licenses are issued to say 4 money bags with one reserved for the NURTW what it means is that 1 firm is responsible for movement of one fifth of people and goods in the whole of Lagos state for 5 to 10 years.

Let’s say 5 million moves in and around of Lagos state per day. The average transportation for this 5million is say 200naira and let’s say only 1.2 million want to use public transport. You have a minimum of 240 million naira a day which is 2million dollars a day in a year that will be 730 million USD and in 5 years that will $3.65 billion in ten years 10 $7.3 billion. Remember this is the minimum and besides you have not talked about TAXIS and MOVEMENT OF GOODS.

BUT WHERE THE GOVERNOR/GOVERNMENT WILL GET ALL WRONG IS THAT WHEN THE MAKE IT A POLITICAL SCORE POINT AND SPEND MONEY ON THE PROJECT THEMSELVES. TRANSPORTATION BUSINESS IS NOT A TABLE TOP BUSINESS FOR INDIVIDUALS. IN GHANA I KNEW THAT THE MASS TRANSPORT WAS GOING TO FAIL BECAUSE IT WAS DRIVEN BY PURE POLITICAL WILL AND NOT A BUSINESS MINDSET. YOU NEED A POLITICAL WILL BUT ALSO A BUSINESS MINDSET AND TRANSPARENCY. EVEN GIVE YOUR POLITICAL RIVAL THE CHANCE TO PARTATKE SO THAT PEOPLE CAN HAVE A SENSE THAT WE ARE TOGETHER AND THEY WILL KNOW WHAT KIND OF OPPOSITION THEY HAVE. DON’T MAKE IT A WINNER TAKE ALL THIS WILL BRING IN BUSINESS CONFIDENCE.


When giving out the licenses you are saying no one can move anybody or goods in Lagos state without this five licensed bodies. Any good bank manager will like to get the Licenses quick. The state would not need to spend a dime and from this It will rather make money.

Now there will be teething problems The Companies will like to OVERMILK the commuters. What you can do is to set up transport Dispute resolution board.
As time goes on you will immediately make sure that in bring on more companies to bid for the licenses.
Let me give a picture of what I see as there will be competition.
SUPPOSING COMPANY "A" WANTS TO RAISE QUICK MONEY FOR ANYTHING HE CAN SAY I AM SELLING A GOLD CARD FOR OFFICE WORKERS IT COST YOU SAY $2000 TO MOVE ARROUND IN THE WHOLE YEAR GIVE ME $1000 NOW AND YOU DONT NEED TO WORRY ABOUT TRANSPORT FEES ONCE YOU HAVE THAT GOLD CARD.

NOW THIS MEANS 2 THINGS FOR THE BUSINESS AND THE PASSENGER.

FOR THE BUSINESS

IF YOU CAN GET 100 THOUSAND PEOPLE ON THIS GOLD CARD SCHEME YOU ARE MAKING $1,00,000,000 ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS

FOR THE PASSENGER
THE PASSENGER HAS SAVED 50% COST ON TRANPORTION FOR THE WHOLE YEAR.


LET US CHALLENGE OUR THINKERS AND BUSINESS MEN. I DONT HAVE ALL KNOWLEDGE. OUR GOVERNMENT LET US THE CITIZENS WORK FOR YOU

There are 3 areas

THE ROAD ITSELF

There are some roads that you construct that are abso9lutely unneccessary but because of politicking are constructed.

THE CARS THAT PLY THE ROAD
There must be drive tax so that people will put value on driving other than the car.

MAINTENACE OF THE ROAD BY CONTRACTORS
We loose billions in overhead cost that range from lobby money, kick backs, 10 percent and red tapping. When you privatise the road it will innitially be expensive but at the end it will be very cheap.