Traffic gridlock erodes property values as Propertygate seeks solution to anarchy on roads

When experts and stakeholders gathered in Lagos recently for the third edition of a biennial Breakfast Meeting hosted by Propertygate Development and Investment Plc, focus was on the anarchy on Lagos roads and the impact of such situation on lives and property.

Worried about a combination of factors including bad roads, reckless driving, lawlessness, lack of enforcement of traffic laws, etc, the meeting with the theme, ‘Anarchy on our Roads: Where is Enforcement?’, took a critical look at the situation and blamed it on individual attitudes, poor urban planning/development, lack of political will/interest to enforce existing laws, etc.

Lagos today seems to be grinding into a halt because of traffic gridlock and congestion everywhere in the city which is taking its toll on human health, business and commerce, and even social activities.

“Apart from the impact on health of motorists, the gridlock also affects value of assets”, Adetokunbo Ajayi, the MD/CEO of Propertygate noted, stressing that this has serious impact on property value.

Ajayi pointed out that, the reason for having roads, in the first place, was to make for quality living, noting that in Lagos, the reverse was the case as people spent upwards of four hours to move from one point to another, leading to loss of opportunities such as job interviews and business engagements.

“We cannot possibly quantify the cost, but in addition to loss of promotions in offices and asset degradation, the anarchy on our roads also erodes value of property and curtails development activities in areas that are prone to traffic because people avoid such locations”, he said.

He noted that whereas property values were coming down in a place like Victoria Garden City (VGC) because of difficult traffic situation on Lekki-Epe Expressway, places like Lekki Phase One and Banana Island, where there are still saner traffic situation, enjoyed high property values.

For developers, he said, it is a hard decision in terms of where to invest, noting that developments towards Badagry were slowing because the reconstruction and expansion of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway which attracted much investment interest in that axis seems to have stopped.

Highlighting the influence of individual attitudes to the anarchy on the roads, Hyginus Omeje, the Lagos State Sector Commander of the Federal Roads Safety Corps (FRSC), hinted that human element manifesting in reckless driving, disobedience to traffic signs and laws, dangerous over-taking, over-speeding, etc accounted for 85 percent of road crashes or accidents in Nigeria generally.

He added that 9.2 percent and 5.8 percent of the crashes were caused by mechanical and environmental factors respectively, explaining that whereas mechanical factors related to the state of the vehicles, environmental factors had to do with the state of the roads. Omeje who was a guest speaker at the meeting disclosed that in 2013, the corps in Lagos prosecuted 54 persons for traffic offenses; 16 people in 2014 while between January and September this year, as many as 157 people have been prosecuted.

To bring sanity and end the anarchy on the roads, Ajayi and Omeje canvassed increased education of road users and introduction of what they called “Show and Shame” initiative in which case photographs of traffic offenders should be made public through the help/collaboration of the media.