Apapa dey far from Oshodi, Festac, Ijora, but de effect dey. Refinery to Ajah dey less dan 35 km, bros the road is 3 lanes each way, some points one lane, if dose trucks break down around Abijo. Railway is de option Lekki-Epe, like Lagos-Abeokuta, Lagos-Ibadan na one major road.
That's why I told you to read through the thread. I have already answered every single thing that you've written. Now I'll have to quote my posts.
2) There's only one road into Lekki and it will lead to problems for people living in Ajah, Lekki Phase 1, etc.
Firstly, you need to know that the port is being built in Ibeju Lekki, which is far away from Lekki Phase 1, Ajah, etc.
Secondly, you also need to know that there isn't only one way to the port. There is the Epe-Ijebu Expressway, which easily provides a link to the hinterland (through Ogun State) from the port. The Ondo State Government is also working on the Araromi-Ibeju Lekki Expressway, which will provide a link from Ibeju Lekki to Ondo State.
3) Rail lines: There are two rail lines that are meant to service that area: (a) The Green Line of the Lagos Metro system, which will run from Marina to the proposed Lekki Airport and Seaport. Provision has been made on the Eleko Road for the rail line to run on the median. There's also going to be a link from the Lagos-Calabar national line to the Lekki Port.
4) Dedicated truck lane: The road will also have a dedicated lane for trucks (just as you have your BRT lane), so that they won't cause congestion on the axis.
2
Construction of the 6-lane rigid pavement on Eleko Epe T junction
Project Summary
This is the ONGOING Massive Construction of the 6-lane rigid pavement on Eleko Epe T junction by Messers Craneburg Construction. Governor of Lagos State, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu flagged off the construction on 1st November 2020.
Project Details:
- The Total Length of the road from Eleko Junction to Epe T junction is 18.75km. - CONTRACTOR: Craneburg Construction - Provision of reinforced concrete drains, Culverts and Median Barrier - Installation of Traffic Lights - Landscaping of Road Verges - Preservation of rail line corridor with 50m RoW - Installation of Street Lights - Dedicated Truck Lane and Railway Line (for future).
- Road to serve as template for construction of road leading towards the Dangote Refinery, Lekki Ports and the Lagos Free Zones, so that we don’t have a future problem with the ports like Apapa.
Mr Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu promised this project, flagged it off and delivering quality infrastructure to the Lagos East axis of the State.
Apapa dey far from Oshodi, Festac, Ijora, but de effect dey. Refinery to Ajah dey less dan 35 km, bros the road is 3 lanes each way, some points one lane, if dose trucks break down around Abijo. Railway is de option Lekki-Epe, like Lagos-Abeokuta, Lagos-Ibadan na one major road.
Apapa dey far from Oshodi, Festac, Ijora, but de effect dey. Refinery to Ajah dey less dan 35 km, bros the road is 3 lanes each way, some points one lane, if dose trucks break down around Abijo. Railway is de option Lekki-Epe, like Lagos-Abeokuta, Lagos-Ibadan na one major road.
Continued
4
naptu2: This is for people that are mixing up the Lekki Deep Sea Port and the Dangote Port.
The Lekki Port was conceived by the Lagos State Government decades ago and it is part of the Lagos Free Trade Zone project.
The Dangote Group wanted to import some components for their refinery, but they discovered that the components were too big for Apapa Port to handle, so they built their own port in Lekki. It is not far from the Lekki Deep Sea Port and I'll show you both ports on Google Maps.
The Lekki Deep Sea port is on the left of the first screenshot. It is just below the Kellogs Factory. The Dangote Port is on the extreme right of that same map.
The second screenshot is of the Lekki Deep Sea Port.
Apapa dey far from Oshodi, Festac, Ijora, but de effect dey. Refinery to Ajah dey less dan 35 km, bros the road is 3 lanes each way, some points one lane, if dose trucks break down around Abijo. Railway is de option Lekki-Epe, like Lagos-Abeokuta, Lagos-Ibadan na one major road.
I wrote this in 2020. The Epe-Ijebu Expressway was commissioned a few months ago.
1) The refinery and in fact the entire Free Trade Zone is in Ibeju Lekki. Lekki (Phase 1 to Abraham Adesanya) is to the west of Ibeju Lekki, but all the goods that are going to go to and from the Free Trade Zone are going to be moved through the north (through Ogun), east (through Ondo) and south (through the Atlantic Ocean. Lekki Peninsula will not be significantly affected.
2) There are already facilities to move goods through the north and south of the Free Trade Zone. Dangote has built his port. There is already a road that links Epe and Ijebu Ode (in Ogun State) and there is already a lighter terminal in Epe on the Lagos Lagoon. Dangote also already has a jetty on the lagoon.
3) Ondo State, Ogun State and Lagos State are building roads to the north and east of the facility. Will they be ready before the refinery is ready? Maybe, maybe not, nobody knows, just as nobody knows if the refinery will be ready before the roads. Remember that the refinery was originally scheduled for completion in 2016, then 2018, then 2019, then 2020 and now 2021. Nobody knows if it will be ready by 2021.
4) What happened in Apapa is not a failure of planning, but rather an example of the indiscipline of Nigerians (both in and out of government).
This gridlock in Apapa did not exist when I was a kid in the '70s and '80s, so I had to ask myself what changed. I wrote this while trying to find an answer, but I need to include two things that I previously left out.
The reason that they stopped piping is because militants break open the pipelines at Arepo in Ikorodu and steal the product.
The railway system collapsed in the 1990s. C2000 Aliko Dangote made a proposal to lease vacant land at Apapa Port for his flour business. There was an outcry when he was given the land. People said that the government was favouring him. In order to appear impartial the government then gave some land at the port to Flour Mills of Nigeria. The problem is that the land that was given to Flour Mills contains a portion of the railway and they built their factory right over the railway line, so no trains could run from Ebute Metta to the port. The government is now demolishing that factory as it constructs the new standard guage line.
And I wrote this some years ago.
naptu2: [size=14pt]Solutions to the Apapa/Surulere traffic jam[/size].
People keep trying to treat the symptoms without addressing the root cause of the problem. In 2008 I spent 3 hours on one spot on Park Lane, Apapa. The driver even suggested that I should take a motorcycle back to the island, but I refused because I wanted to study the situation. Many measures have been taken since then (deployment of naval personnel, banning of tankers, construction of more tanker parks, etc) but none of them have solved the problem.
Things weren't always this way. So what has changed and what is the solution?
1) Tankers: - Previously petroleum products came into the country through the Atlas Cove Jetty and were piped to depots at Ejigbo (Lagos), Mosimi (Ogun), Ibadan (Oyo), Ore (Ondo) and Ilorin (Kwara). This was the busiest pipeline network in the country and Atlas Cove is the biggest jetty for the reception of imported petroleum products in the country. There are other pipeline networks like the Kaduna, Minna, Suleja, Kano and Gusau network.
Tanker trucks in Ogun State went to the Mosimi Depot to load petroleum products, tankers in Oyo State went to Ibadan, tankers in Ondo went to Ore, tankers in Kwara went to Ilorin, tankers in Lagos went to Apapa and Ejigbo, etc. There were also a few private depots (especially in Lagos) that stored petroleum products on behalf of the NNPC.
The problem is that the NNPC does not trust the pipelines due to frequent incidents of pipeline vandalisation. They don't want to lose any more product/money, so they stopped piping petroleum products to the depots. Instead of piping petroleum products to the depots, tanker trucks come from as far away as Ilorin to load petroleum products in Apapa. The fact that the Kaduna Refinery has also not been functioning has meant that trucks also come from Kaduna, Kano and other places in the north to load petroleum products in Apapa. These tankers, unlike Lagos based tankers, cannot return to their base to wait for their turn to load, so they park on the streets. There was a time earlier this year when there were 6,000 out of state tankers in Lagos at the same time!
The solution is to first secure the pipelines by using technology, such as distributed accoustic sensing (DAS) to detect vandals before they attack the pipelines, using drones and CCTV cameras to identify the vandals and providing vehicles like helicopters and pickup trucks to the security forces so that they can rapidly respond to alerts. All of these should be coordinated by a properly staffed and equipped comand and control centre and the government should ensure that the vandals are prosecuted. The NNPC can then start piping products to depots again. The second necessary measure is to ban out of state trucks from loading petroleum products in Lagos. Doing this will take away half of the cause of the gridlock at Apapa.
2) Freight trucks: - Nigerians seem to be so fascinated by high speed passenger trains (MagLev lines and electric locomotives), that they've forgotten how important freight trains are. A good chunk of the traffic jams we experience can be eliminated if goods are moved by rail rather than by articulated trucks. The wear and tear that the road suffers would be minimised and the number of accidents caused by these trucks would be reduced. Businesses would also benefit from this as they would not have to pay illegal taxes and bribes that are demanded by policemen and area boys on the road. There would also be better security which would greatly minimise the problem of armed robbery on our highways.
The colonialists recognised the importance of freight trains, so they created an arm of the Lagos-Kano line that runs from the Ebute Metta junction on to the platform at the Apapa Port. Thus goods (like Dantata's groundnuts) could be moved directly from Kano to the port for export. This arm of the railway line had many sidings to industrial concerns in the Ijora and Apapa area. For example, there was a siding that ran to the old power station in Ijora (with the twin smoke stacks) so that coal could be moved by freight train from Enugu to the power station. Unfortunately some people have built over the railway line to the power station (and over some of the other lines in the area) but there are still sidings that go to Nigerian Flour Mills, Mobil, Oando, Total, etc.
The railways can also help to solve the problem of distribution of petroleum products. Petroleum products can be moved from state to state by rail tankers, rather than by tanker trucks.
I believe that one of the ways to solve the problem of the gridlock in Apapa and the degradation of the Apapa-Oworonshoki Expressway is for goods to be moved from the port primarily by trains and for trailer trucks to be banned from plying the roads between 6am-9pm.
The rail lines in the Apapa Port complex and the rail line from the Ebute Metta Junction to Apapa were rehabilitated by the AP Moeller-Maersk Group (a concessionaire at the Apapa Port) and the previous Federal Government, but users of the port complain that not enough trains have been provided to move goods out of the port. This issue must be addressed.
Indeed I think that the new ports that are being constructed across the country should also be linked by rail. I'm not sure if the blue line that's currently being constructed is dual purpose, but I think it's very important that there's a freight train service in the Ojo-Badagry area to service the new Badagry Port, the Energy City, the Agbara Industrial Estate, the car plant (VON/Stallion Motors), Alaba Markets, the Trade Fair Complex and to move goods coming from Benin Republic (by the way, I went past there last week and I was surprised at the progress that's been made on the Blue Line. The tracks had only been laid from Orile to Mile 2 the previous time I went there and the road expansion works terminated just after the Festac Bridge, but now the tracks have been laid beyond Festac and the expansion works had progressed beyond Amuwo Odofin. The rail bridge on the other side had gone beyond the Ebute Metta Creek, but I really hate what they've done to the creek). It's also important that the new Lekki Port, the Olokola Port and the Ibom Port should be linked to the national rail network.
3) Out of time goods (goods that have stayed longer than 28 days) at the Apapa and Tin Can Island ports should be moved to the Ikorodu Port by barges. This will free up space at those ports and also reduce the number of trucks on our roads. The Ikorodu Port should also be linked to the national rail newtork.
Basically, the solution to the problem is the same as the solution to the general transport problem in Lagos - mutlimodal transport. We can't keep depending on the road (for both passenger and goods transportation, but especially for transporting goods), we need to utilise and expand the rail system, the waterways, the air and even underground.
Photo of port construction in colonial Nigeria (note the railway tracks). Picture by the Nigerian Ports Authority.
Ondo awards 37.5km Araromi/Lekki dual carriageway for N32bn
January 29, 2019
By Dayo Johnson
AKURE—THE Ondo State government said it has awarded contracts for the construction of the 37.5km dual coastal carriage Araromi-Seaside-Akodo-Lekki Road worth N32 billion.
Contractors handling the projects are expected to deliver them in 36 calendar months.
This was announced after the State Executive Council held in Akure, Ondo State.
The Information Commissioner, Mr. Yemi Olowolabi said the award of the 37.5km dual carriageway was done after a selective tendering method.
Olowolabi said: “The road project execution is to be co-funded by the Ondo State Government and the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, at ratio 60:40.
“The state executive’s approval, the road project is divided into two lots. Lot One, which is the 18.850km of the road, is awarded to Craneburg Construction Company, Lagos, for N16.9 billion.
“The execution of Lot one is to commence from Araromi Seaside and terminates at Awodikora/OKLNG.
“The 18.65km Lot Two of the road project is awarded to CCECC Nigeria Limited, Abuja, for N15.7 billion.
“Construction of Lot Two will start from Awodikora/OKLNG to Akodo-Lekki in Lagos State.
naptu2: The Ijebu-Epe Expressway is meant to serve as a means of decongesting the new Lekki Industrial Area. A lot of large facilities are being built in Ibeju-Lekki, which is quite close to Epe and the Ijebu-Epe Expressway will be the route through which goods and people are moved from these facilities into the hinterland of Nigeria. Here are some of the facilities that are being built in Ibeju Lekki.
1) Dangote Refinery: The Dangote Refinery will be the largest single train refinery in the world. Petroleum products from that refinery will have to be moved to all parts of Nigeria and the Ijebu-Epe Expressway is one of the routes through which this will happen.
2) Dangote Fertilizer Company.
3) Lekki Deep Sea Port: Imported goods will need to be moved from the port to the hinterland of Nigeria and goods for export will need to be moved in the opposite direction. That expressway is one of the routes through which this will happen.
4) Lekki Airport: Goods and people will need to be moved to the airport and vice versa.
5) Lagos Free Zone and Lekki Free Zone: A lot of major factories are being built in the free trade zones and workers, raw materials and finished goods will need to be moved to and from those factories.
Governor Akinwumi Ambode of Lagos State reconstructed the Lagos end of the expressway and Governor Dapo Abiodun has now reconstructed the Ogun end of the expressway via a public-private partnership (PPP).
The Ondo State Government has also said that it will build an expressway from Ondo to Ibeju Lekki, in order to take advantage of the developments there.
Furthermore, I saw an old plan for the Lagos-Calabar railway and it had a spur that ran via the Ijebu-Epe Expressway to the Lekki Port.
This morning, we received His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR as he commissioned one of our legacy projects, the 14-kilometre Ijebu-Ode-Mojoda-Epe Road in Ogun State.
The Dangote Group already has a jetty on the Lagos Lagoon through which they can move goods to other parts of Lagos and there is a Lighter Terminal at Epe.
Governor Babatunde Fashola said that some goods will be moved from the Lekki Free Trade Zone/Lagos Free Zone by barges on the Lagos Lagoon.
sometime around 2018 or 2019, the Nigerian Ports Authority ordered that goods should be moved by barge to Epe and Ikorodu terminals, in order to decongest Apapa. I sometimes see the barges when I'm exercising on the Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge.
However, there was a problem. Some unscrupulous operators were overloading the barges and failing to secure the containers properly. This led to the accident in the video below.
Therefore, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) and the Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA) set up a joint committee to inspect and monitor the barge operators.
Due to the pictures, I will continue my quotes in subsequent posts.
Ok Naptu2, I concur. Holdups go still fill dat end because of localisation of industries. Make God spare our lives, u go see, dose roads may not be adequate.
Dashlish12: ... Shhhssh! Seek knowledge and u shall find; There's a proposed road from VI (By the Atlantic ocean) That leads to dangote refinery and straight to the "Imminent" road ( Link up Bridge still in the secondary stage) to Ondo state been constructed by the Ondo state government which leads to the south and of course the east, so before putting mouth on we islanders matter please Strive to do your homework pretty well. Thank u and remain Blessed
Bros this is not a fight na ...not matter of islander and mainlander
Wow if they are building such road umm how long will these roads be ready?
Well that good , we hope the one to dangota apapa will be ready soon...cos if they don't speed it up na die many people de for stress
In addition to the roads that I have already written about, I hear that the Federal Government has given permission for Dangote to build a brand new expressway from the Lekki Free Trade Zone, through the forest and Epe to the Lagos-Benin Expressway in exchange for tax credits.
