A Pictorial View of Lagos Rail Mass Transit (LRMT) Construction

It’s been almost 6 years since the Lagos Rail Mass Transit has started, the work started under the former Lagos state governor Mr. Babatunde Fashola, according to him then, the work will be finished before he leaves office in 2015 but due to logistics and funding, they were unable to meet with the deadline. During the campaign of Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, he promised to finish up from where Mr. Fashola left and so far the work has been going slow and steady.

AutoReportNG did a self-media tour (if anything like that exists) and we start from CMS to Costain (National Theather, Iganmu, Lagos) and we were able to access some developments and see how the work is faring. These are some of what we gathered…

Contractor: The contract was awarded to China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) and they were in charge of all mechanical and other engineering works, so far the quality of the materials were top notched, kudos must be given to Lagos State Government who ensured that they compiled to safety guidelines and also who made sure they use quality goods as well.

Challenges: We were able to identify 2 major challenges during our short tip and this has to be the slow working process of the firm, for example working on the Eko Bridge is long overdue, they have been on that since last year and they are yet to leave the same spot and this call for concern, how many years will it take them to construct over the sea. Another challenge we see is the issue of the miscreants also known as area boys, they defaced most of their works, the placed that have been constructed have turned to a garage or their second home. A visit to Orile Bus Stop along Mile 2 will clear your doubts. We also noticed that the rail-lines have been messed up as some have turned the place to their toilets.

Funding: We were able to interact with some of the workers of the CCECC and we asked them why the slow pace despite the government fundings but the workers debunked that CCECC is not releasing money and also there is shortage of funds, whatever that means, its either LASG is not releasing money or CCECC is not paying its staff, you be the judge.

Safety: The CCeCC company are not security conscious at all, most times the edge of the pillar of the train and that of the other bridge as so closely held together that if you are new in this area you are likely to get confused, it is expected at least CCeCC puts up a warning sign to warn drivers ahead but we are surprised none of this exists not even in CMS a CBD centre. We appeal to LASG to mount pressure on them before we hear of stories that touch. Same scenario if you are on the bridge of Eko Bridge, the edges of both are too fitted together.

Completion Date: It will take a miracle for this project to be ready in 2019 as there are lots to be done, the dredging of the Eko Bridge for example still remains a top priority, many of the Train Stations have not been put into place, most of the rail lines still need some touches, we are aware that Mile 2 to Orile has been completed to a certain stage but they still need to be checked again. So ladies and gentlemen, brace up yourself.

If we are to rate the work and how they fared, we will rate them 52% except a miracle happens tomorrow morning.

These are the pictures we are able to take, we are not given access to enter the National Theatre Rail Terminus