The Lagos State government is currently wooing key investors into the vast untapped opportunities in the state water transportation sector.
The move is aimed at addressing the transportation and traffic challenges of a complex mega city like
It is not a hidden fact that Lagosians spend an average of four hours commuting a distance of about 80 km by road, while the same distance can be covered in less than 40 minutes by ferry.
This, according to analysts, represents a significant loss of over three and half hours sweating it out in traffic. In fact,
The high population coupled with the mass movement of people to the city of
To address this problem, the state government has decided to partner Caverton Marine boatyard for the construction and servicing of passenger boats for the state inland waterway authority (LASWA).
General Manager,
Those on the tour included Chief Executive Officer,
The LASWA GM said the number of passengers using boat shuttles in the state is expected to rise above 55.2 per cent by the end of 2024.
The
Giving a breakdown of the ridership figure from 2013 to 2023, he said there has been a steady increase of commuters using the waters to travel as a total of 9,978,546 was recorded in 2013 as against 21,887,738 in 2023.
A further breakdown also showed that in 2014, a total of 10,345,281 persons used the waterways, and for 2015, a total of 11, 067,756 persons used the service while 2016 recorded a ridership of 11,851,837. In 2017, the number of persons that travelled by the waters increased to 13,787,624. And in 2018, the system recorded its only decline in usage as only 11,984,930 were recorded but it resurged in 2019 with an increase to 14,131,786, before recording a minor decline to 14, 105,816 in 2020 under COVID.
Also speaking during the boat cruise, Chief Executive Officer,
"At the time, obviously there were all these flying boats. So successive governments came, starting with
"It was during Ambode's administration that I took a keen interest. I said to my team, and myself, "Why don't we try to work with the Ambode government?" I always dread going to Ikorodu whenever we have a few family functions. This is due to the fact that I cannot afford to stay in the traffic for three hours. I just realised that it just took me only 20 minutes to get to Ikorodu by water," he said.
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