Ajegunle, Festac, Satelite towns, others to enjoy modern ferry services soon—NIWA
Residents of communities including Ajegunle, FESTAC, Satelite Town, Mile 2 and several others will soon
have the choice of travelling by ferry to CMS, to beat the long hours of traffic gridlock suffered daily.
have the choice of travelling by ferry to CMS, to beat the long hours of traffic gridlock suffered daily.
Mr Mu’azu Sambo, the Lagos Area Manager, National Inland Waterways Authority(NIWA) disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) in Lagos.
He said considerations to operate on these routes arose from the success of a Public Private Partnership (PPP) with Seacoach Ferry that now transports passengers from CMS to Ikorodu in just 32 minutes.
According to the Area Manager, the new fleet of ferryboats offers passengers comfort and efficient service, which NIWA wants to extend to areas with high population movement into Lagos Island. From this terminal, passengers are moved to Ikorodu; in 32 minutes they are in Ikorodu.
His words: “Passengers in Ikorodu are brought here the same way passengers from here to Apapa are taken and brought back here.
“This is a paradigm shift in water transportation in the Lagos area. There never has been such level of comfort in moving people by water as this one.
“That is why we, NIWA, as development partners are encouraging them and providing the necessary environment for them to operate smoothly and seamlessly.
“We are intending to replicate this along other routes, especially in areas that are densely populated, that have high population movements to Lagos and from Lagos.
“Such areas include, but are not limited to Ajegunle, Festac, Satelite Town, Mile 2.”
Sambo, however, said that NIWA would have to first deal with the challenge of cleaning the dirt from the water in those areas.
He said that water-cleaning equipment would be procured to clean debris from the water as well as clean water hyacinths, which he said affected boat movements periodically in Lagos.
