Babajide Sanwoolu, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State gubernatorial election, on Tuesday assured that Lagos Light Rail project will begin operations within his first year in office, if elected.
The guber candidate who was reacting a tweet by Dolapo Oni on the failure of the Akinwunmi Ambode administration to sustain some projects commenced by his predecessor and current Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, Sanwoolu, while not making excuses about the Lagos light rail, said it is key to the traffic management and transportation plan.
“We want to have coaches on it in the next one year,” he assured, stressing that “I am really pained that the Lagos Light Rail is not yet completed…”
The Lagos Light Rail project was started about 10 years ago and recently came under public scrutiny over its actual cost, following discrepancy between the contract sum announced by the state and what was announced by China Rail, the contractor (READ MORE).
Based on a comprehensive review of the rail project, the state government had said last year that the Marina to Mile 2 section of the project known as the Blue Line Rail, would be ready for passenger operation by 2022.
On LAGHom, a project of the Fashola administration, Sanwoolu recalled that as a former managing director of the Lagos State Development & Property Corporation (LSDPC), “providing sustainable housing will be an important part of our plans.”
He assured Oni: “You have my word that LSETF (the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund) will not be scrapped if I’m elected, but strengthened with funding and its scope expanded.”
He applauded the good job being done by the management and staff of the fund, which he said, “must be sustained.”
On waste management, the APC candidate said the “PSPs as a first level solution are on top of basic collection & will be tasked & helped to scale. We have developed a Waste to Wealth strategy that we will deploy incentivizing proper waste disposal & driving advocacy to ensure proper sorting starts from homes.”