Ahead of its planned first phase construction of a 37-kilometre rail project, Lagos State Government has disclosed that it is planning to demolish 297 properties on the Right of Way (RoW).
The Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) has engaged two firms, Nolasimbo Consulting Engineers and Partners Limited, and Global Impact Environmental Consulting Limited to identify Project Affected Persons (PAPs), businesses, premises and structures along the ROW.
The project, known as Lagos Rail Mass Transit Red Line is part of Lagos Rail Mass Transit (LRMT), expected to run through Oyingbo to Agbado in Ogun State, cutting through residential and office buildings in Mushin, Yaba, Ikeja among other highly populated areas.
The design involves provision of stations at Oyingbo, Yaba, Mushin, Oshodi, Ikeja, Agege, Iju and Agbado. The government plans to complete the project in the fourth quarter of 2022.
It is being implemented as part of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu-led administration’s vision for better traffic management and transportation. Under the project, about 20 million passengers are to be transported daily.
The Managing Director, Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), Abimbola Akinajo, told The Guardian that the lists of affected persons have been published in accordance with World Bank standard.
According to her, every affected person has three weeks to make changes to their names, if wrongly spelt. She added that ‘the process have been done and we didn’t do it perversely.’
On compensation plan, Akinajo stressed “that it would be done in accordance with World Bank standard, after the identification of the PAPs, they would be compensated, every single one of them.’’
The project would have 10-bridges along the rail corridor. The Lagos State government will construct five while the Federal Government will build the others.
Specifically, the Lagos State Government would construct the bridges at Oyingbo, Yaba, Mushin, at Kayode and Ogunmokun streets, and Ikeja.
