The managing director of the News Agency of Nigeria, Ali Ali, says the Lagos Blue Light Rail operations in Lagos State will boost productivity and reduce traffic congestion.
Mr Ali spoke after boarding the train to other stations of the train in Lagos on Sunday.
The managing director commended the state government on the platform Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu for investing in first-class transportation to ease the time of doing business in the state.
He said: “My impression of the Blue Light Rail is that it is a money-spilling. I thought it was a cash cow that was properly utilized but from what have seen, every step of the road is organized from embarkment to disembarkment and the timeliness of the departure at the rail stations.”
“The 13-kilometre stretch from Marina to Mile 2, I saw five stations along the rail corridor such as Marina, National Theatre, Orile Iganmu, Alaba, and Mile 2. At every train station, I discovered that passengers get there on time, time management is excellent, and it gets to various destinations from Marina to Mile 2 on time. So, when you have this consistency, by the time you perfect it with time, given the volume of people that patronize the train, I say in no time, they will recover whatever investment they made.”
“The Blue Light Rail which is powered by electricity is a welcome investment that would have been there long time a ago. Giving the mega city status of Lagos.”
The managing director said such establishment was a win-win situation for both the investors and the commuters.
He, however, urged other statesmen to borrow a leaf from the state government to enable them to establish such state-owned rail in their respective states.
Mr Ali said that the establishment of such light rail, especially in the mega-city where they had a lot of commuters, would ease traffic as it had done in Lagos State.
“The ambiance of the train is nice, and it is fully air-conditioned and the journey that will take you hours if you go by road from Marina to Mile 2, will take you less than 20 minutes. On a good day you spent up to two hours but with the train, in 20 minutes, you are at work,” Mr Ali said.
The MD also said that effective utilization of the state-owned train would reduce stress, accident and the job of traffic management authorities would be minimal.
He said that the Blue Light Rail project should have come a long time ago, adding that it was, however, better late than never. Mr Ali urged Lagos residents to utilise the Blue Light Rail facility which he said was cost effective.
Source: Daily Nigerian
