The Ogun State government calls on private sector investors for a N23 billion state-of-the-art trailer park on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.
The trailer park is to have a capacity to accommodate 5,000 trailers and will have modern facilities like eateries, cinemas, hotels, among others.
The Lagos-Ibadan expressway is one of the busiest roads in Nigeria linking Lagos State, West Africa’s third biggest economy after Nigeria and Ghana to the rest of the country.
The road is, however, often clogged by trailers that usually park dangerously by the roadside. The proposed trailer park will reduce the menace trailers pose to other road users and also set up a business hub for trailers and other drivers and passengers that use the road.
This state’s plan for a trailer park was disclosed by the state’s commissioner for works and infrastructure, Olamilekan Adegbite who also revealed that 108 hectares of land has been acquired for the plan.
He admitted that the indiscriminate parking of trucks by the road side is wrong, but there must be a standard park for those trucks before any legislation could be enforced.
Mr. Adegbite explained that there need for park to be provided for trailers because they have caused accidents on the road on different occasions, noting that enforcing legislation without providing where the trailers can park will make life difficult for trying to make a living.
“By our last estimation, it will cost about N23 billion to develop the trailer park. It is going to have full complements as you can find in the United States of America or any other developed country. Its facilities will include restaurants, accommodation, entertainment, cinema, retail store, and so on,” he said.
He said that the state is willing to collaborate with private investors that will be interested in investing in the project.
He also declared that the state has identified some tollable road projects such as the Sango-Ota-Ojotu Road, Sagamu-Ogijo-Ikorodu Road and Ijebu Ode-Epe-Lekki Road which it intends to construct under a PPP scheme.
In his analysis, he said the first project is a 32km road which connects Ogun State from Sango to Ojodu via Ota, carefully selected due to the huge population of the people living in the axis most of whom work in Lagos State, the second road runs from Sagamu to Ikorodu via Ogijo while the third road project runs from Ijebu Ode to Lekki via Epe which is meant to serve the people that live on Victoria Island, in Ajah and Lekki axis of Lagos State, adding that they are expected to take a lot of pressure off the Lagos-Ibadan expressway when finally completed.
He further said, the Sango-Ota-Ojodu project is going to be a 6-lane road with bus lane with The main road tolled such that people moving with private cars will have to pay toll and people with buses go without paying toll.
He also reveals that there is going to be an interchange at that point where you can feed into the 3rd Mainland Bridge and go on your way, adding that the road is open to investor while most of the roads will be powered through independent power project (IPP) which opens another opportunity for PPP investors.
He pointed out that the projects are in continuation of the government’s drive to make Ogun State the largest industrial hub in Nigeria.
He also said Governor Ibikunle Amosun’s road project has cut across about 500km of roads in the three senatorial districts, one of which is the first flyover in the state capital, adding that several road projects are presently going on in Lafenwa, Aiyetoro, Ijebu Ode, Sagamu, Ilishan and Ago Iwoye.
Adegbite concludes that the ultimate aim is to increase the state’s gross domestic product (GDP).
