An official of the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), Mr Kolawole Ojelabi, says that the Ikeja Bus Terminal project is 90 per cent completed.
Ojelabi, who is the Head of Media and Communication, LAMATA, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Monday.
He said that the terminal project was part of the Lagos Bus Reform Programme of the state government to organise transportation services in the state capital.
The media head explained that the current situation where commercial buses used the roads and under the bridges in Ikeja as parks was not in line with international practice.
“Government wants to enhance the aesthetics of the city and clean up Ikeja.
“Ikeja is the state capital and you cannot allow about 20 bus parks in one area and those buses are going to the same place.
“So, all the parks are going to be relocated to the bus terminal.
“The project which started in February was supposed to be completed in four months but the contractor had to place order to import Teflon, a substance used in molding articles.
“Apart from that, the offices and tarmac to hold the buses are ready, the terminal as it is, is ready for use as soon as the governor commissions it.
“I can say that the project is 90 per cent completed,” he said.
The spokesperson explained that the project was designed as a mega terminal to accommodate buses plying various routes in the state.
Ojelabi said that the terminus was designed to accommodate and take buses to over 30 destinations within the state.
“As part of its bus reform programme, the state government is introducing medium and high capacity buses that will take 30 passengers and above from the central point, where people will board the buses,” he said.
The LAMATA spokesman explained that under the state’s Strategic Master Plan for transportation, there would be 13 bus terminals across the state which the Ikeja Bus Terminal will link up, for ease of commuting.
He said that a recent survey revealed that people usually commuted to about 30 destinations and that was captured in the design to have the Ikeja terminal as a central point for buses.
Ojelabi explained that the project included e-terminal zones, where people could purchase tickets with sitting areas.
“These are not buses that will park and pick passengers and leave, not like what we have at under the Ikeja Bridge,” he said.
He said that the state’s Strategic Transport Master Plan had 14 Bus Rapid Transit corridors to complement other forms of transportation, to assess inner routes which the Ikeja bus terminal captured.
Ojelabi said that the state governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, had announced that over a five year period, 5,000 medium and high capacity buses would be injected into the Bus Reform System.
The media and communication head also said that about 300 of those buses would be for the Ikeja route.
According to him, the governor has a vision to give the state a world class transportation system.
Ojeladi explained that the reform will replace the yellow buses with better ones, to ensure passengers do not walk beyond 500 metres to board buses. (NAN)