Labour Party, Lagos State chapter has felicitated with residents on the commissioning of the Red Line Rail corridor with a call on the State government to ensure that the initiative does not suffer the failure of past investments in the transport sector of the city state.
This is coming as the party faulted the timing of the coming on stream of the project, saying the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) ought to have put the initiative in place a long time ago.
These are contained in a statement issued by the Publicity Secretary of the Labour Party in the state, Mrs. Olubunmi Odesanya which she made available to newsmen in Lagos today to mark the event.
According to her, “While we will like to felicitate with the people of the state on the coming on stream of the project as it is being commissioned by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu today, we are however skeptical with regards to whether it (the project) will be sustainable considering past efforts of the state government in the sector.”
Odesanya stated that with over 15 million people living in Lagos metropolis, the state government which has been led by the same political affiliation in the last twenty-four years has failed to put in place an enduring transportation system that would sustain the population.
“We thank God that the officials have been able to pull this initiative through after many years in government but this sense of joy is further diminished by the fact that virtually all of such interventions in the sector in the part have failed,” she said.
She further added that though the cost for the project is still shrouded in secrecy, the Labour Party in Lagos warned that it would be a disservice to the people of the state if the project fails again like the ones before it.
“We are aware that the major concerted efforts at addressing the problem of public commuting started under former Governor Babatunde Fashola who decided to launch the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) scheme in March 2008.
“It is to his credit that a few big, luxury buses were introduced into the system which kept increasing ever since but eventually went under. The former governor also tried to improve transport infrastructure by creating dedicated lanes for these buses to operate.
“The state government also built several BRT terminals across the state which eventually became hideouts to criminal elements. In the end, the buses became unavailable as at when due and eventually out of circulation,” she said.
She concluded that “What the Labour Party in Lagos is demanding for is value for money and how that can be achieved is through sustainability of the project like its counterparts across the world.”
By Chimezie Godfrey
