Hurdles clear for Ropeways Cable Car construction

After initial delays characterised by difficulties associated with securing the Right of Way (RoW), instability in polity, 2015 electioneering and spiralling foreign exchange rate, the coast seems to be clear for the construction of proposed commercial cable car transport system, which will be first of kind in Lagos, Nigeria.

The cable car network is a Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiative promoted by Ropeways Limited, with the support of Lagos State government. Both parties signed a 30-year agreement in 2013, to construct this novel transport system at an estimated cost of $500 million.

Under the agreement, Ropeways Transport is expected to construction towers, stations and connecting network cables along various routes covered in the first phase of the project, namely – Ijora – Iddo, Iddo – Adeniji, Apapa – Oluwole, Oluwole – Adeniji, Adeniji – Obalende, Obalende – Falomo, and Falomo – Victoria Island.

Dapo Olumide, managing director of Ropeways, told BusinessDay that the company would in July (next month) unveil details about the construction works, which should had commenced in December 2015, but had to be shifted due to the 2015 electioneering and the instability in the exchange rate.

“You recall that I announced that we would begin construction in December 2015. But we could not eventually because of the instability associated with the election year. With that over, then came instability of the naira. So, we have lost one year. Now, we want to see where the naira goes and by July, we will address the media on the construction details,” Olumide, former managing director of Virgin Nigeria Airlines, said.

Also speaking with BusinessDay, an official of Lagos State government, who asked not to be quoted, linked the initial delays in the project to the RoW.

According to the official, owners of property to be affected by the RoW had been difficult in their demand, and this needed to be first thrashed out in order to assure the financiers and investors in the project that there are no encumbrances.

The Lagos cable car transportation system was expected to be partly financed by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and would create about 500 direct jobs after completion, with commuters paying between N200 ($1.28) and N300 ($1.92) per trip.

It will integrate various standard safety features including CCTV monitor, audio communication links and passenger address systems. It is to complement existing transport modes in Lagos and will play a major part in reducing the traffic congestion in the city

Studies conducted in 2009 on vehicle registration show that an additional 200,000 vehicles are registered annually in Lagos State. This equates to 222 vehicles per kilometre of road in Lagos, which by far outweighs the national average of just 11 vehicles per kilometre, with vehicles estimated to contribute more than 70 percent of the air pollution in Lagos.

The cable car system is rated as one of the safest means of transport worldwide. Based on a 2009 study by the Vancouver Metropolitan Transport Agency in Canada, passengers are 20,000 times more likely to be involved in a fatal accident in a vehicle than in a cable car.