The Lagos State Government has disclosed it is working to boost water transportation by creating safer, more efficient, and sustainable strategies which are at various stages of implementation.
A statement on Sunday noted that the Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, Oluwaseun Osiyemi, stated this during a tour of the Lagos State Waterways Monitoring and Data Management Centre (WMDMC) control room, established by the Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA).
The commissioner explained that various strategies were to be implemented by the state government to make water transportation a viable and reliable option for Lagosians.
“Explaining the functions of the WMDMC control room, the General Manager of LASWA, Damilola Emmanuel, stated that the control room was set up to manage movement on the Inland Waterways.
“To further assess real-time safety measures on the waterways, the tour entourage, which included the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transportation, Olawale Musa; LASWA boat operators, and Caverton Marine representatives, embarked on a boat ride in one of the Caverton locally-made boats to Badore Ferry Terminal to inspect the boat yard where the construction of the ferries are taking place”, the statement said.
Musa, while on the 35-minute boat ride to Badore, hinted that the state government found it more economical patronising the local boat builders to build its boats, which could not be compared to the higher cost of purchasing the same from outside the country.
At the boat yard, the Chief Executive Officer of Caverton Offshore, Olabode Makanjuola, explained that the boats were built in line with international standards, saying about 15 newly built boats would soon be launched and put into use in the inland waterways.
In February, the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) said 75 per cent of boats that operated on Lagos Waterways were not seaworthy.
The Lagos Area Manager of NIWA, Sarat Braimah, disclosed this while addressing journalists during a meeting with members of the Association of Tourist Boats Operators and Water Transport, Lagos. Braimah added that the maintenance of boats had dropped.
“75 per cent of the boats on the Lagos waterways are not seaworthy. The time they bought them, we registered them but the maintenance has dropped and their life span has also dropped. So, we want a way that even if it is 20 boats that are fit to operate let it be so”, she said.
