Pains, losses, shattered dreams as Lagos-Badagry Expressway reconstruction drags

One popular saying in Lagos in recent times is that a visitor who last came to the city a couple of years back may miss his way if he returns to the Lagos-Badagry Expressway today, an allusion to the massive transformation that has taken place on some portions of that road in the last few years.
But this anecdotal transformation seems to have stalled as over 10 months into the administration of Akinwunmi Ambode as governor of Lagos State, there are no clear signs that work is still ongoing on this massive project that was projected to transform the face of Lagos, unlock the gridlock on the expressway that is prone to heavy traffic flow, and open up opportunities for greater investments and regional trade between Nigeria and its neighbours on the West Coast of Africa.

Apart from its strategic economic importance as the gateway to Nigeria’s West Coast neighbours of Benin Republic, Togo, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, etc, the Lagos-Badagry Expressway is also home to the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex which currently harbours three big markets, the Lagos State University, the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria, Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, Alaba International Market (the largest electronics market in West Africa), the Nigerian French Language Village, the proposed Badagry Deep Seaport, among others.

BDSUNDAY on-the-spot assessment tour of the expressway from Mile 2 to Badagry last Tuesday, however, revealed that the road expansion/reconstruction work has not advanced beyond Alakija/Festac Town 3rd Gate on both ways, a feat that was attained long before the end of the Governor Babatunde Fashola administration.

Though on the return journey it was discovered that a stretch of the service lane from Finiger Bus-stop to Ilekpo near the foot of the Trade Fair Complex flyover bridge has been partly completed, further enquiries revealed that this feat was also achieved over a year ago. Apart from skeletal work being done on the flyover bridges at Oluti and Alakija by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) and the finishing touches on the BRT and speed lanes around Mile 2 by Julius Berger, the construction equipment on the expressway have all but disappeared.

Beyond Alakija, the distortion on the road and the ditches that have taken over the remaining part of the expressway have meant that traffic congestion has become a definitive feature of the expressway, creating a state of anarchy which is destroying human health, eroding the value of properties, trapping billions of naira already invested in real estate by institutions and individuals and also frustrating homeownership plans.

For instance, the logjam at Alakija on Tuesday extended beyond Agboju Market/Festac 2nd Gate as motorists heading up the expressway on both ways contended for passageway with those heading into and out of Festac Town as well as into and out of Satellite Town. Similar scenario was noted at Abule-Ado, at Ojo Military Barracks, the entire stretch from Agric Bus-stop up to Iyana-Iba Junction, and virtually every other junction on the expressway.

The journey by commercial bus from Mile 2 to Badagry took upwards of three and a half hours, while the return journey took nearly four hours.

When in 2009 the Lagos State government embarked on the reconstruction and expansion of the expressway to 10 lanes with a BRT lane and a light rail track, the expressway easily became a darling destination for homeownership and investment. In a fell swoop, real estate developers rallied capital and invested massively in land acquisition with the intention of reselling same and making profit while some began to develop estates; individuals with homeownership dreams bought lands, while many companies also relocated to the Agbara axis hoping to leverage on the road expansion to enhance production.

But these investors are now caught up in a web of botched dreams as the completion of this legacy project of the Fashola administration seems to be nowhere in sight. The investors are counting their losses as their projections on how the realisation of this project would transform their corporate and personal lives and fortunes are now turning into a pipedream as the project drags.
Kehinde Adebayo, an insurance broker, told BDSUNDAY that he has remained a tenant where he lives at the moment two years after completing his own house along the Lagos-Badagry Expressway, explaining that he was one of those who saw the need to take advantage of the reconstruction and expansion of the expressway.

“The Lagos-Badagry Expressway is a case of dashed dream for investors and prospective homeowners. However you look at it, it is a big loss to anyone who has invested money on that axis, especially in property,” a property investor along the expressway who does not want his name in print told BDSUNDAY.

“Using myself as an example, I had projected that I would move into my house in 2015, but that dream never materialized because I don’t think it is a good economic decision for someone to leave wherever he is at the moment to say he wants to go and live on the Lagos-Badagry Expressway. You consider a lot of things. One, it has health implications. Two, it has economic implications. And three, it has social implications,” he said.

Explaining further, he said the health implication has to do with time one spends on traffic and the stress of driving through pockets of ditches that now litter the expressway; the economic impact has to do with the wear and tear on the vehicle itself as it struggles through these ditches and the quality man-hour wasted on traffic; and social implication is about the fact that relocating to the expressway would turn one into a pariah as most friends would no longer visit because of the bad state of the road.

“So, these are the considerations that have made me to stay where I am currently with my family, still paying house rent when I have a house in Lagos,” he added.

Apart from individuals, corporate investors are also not finding it easy. Some of the estates on this axis which are currently struggling include Teju Royal Garden being promoted by Multi-Purpose Infrastructure Development and Construction Company (MIDC) Limited, Honeydew Estate developed by Next Dimension Properties Limited, Sparklight Estate, Agbara Estate Phase II, among others.

The verdict among many who use the expressway is that the way it is going, the project may not be completed even by 2025.

“If it took them six years to get to Alakija, don’t you think it will take them even much longer to get this project to Volks or even Okokomaiko?” said Udo Okoro, a trader at Alaba International Market, adding that the bad state of the expressway over the years has led to a downturn in the fortunes of many traders in the market as a result of low patronage.

“I’m 69 years old this year and I now seriously doubt if this project will be completed in my lifetime,” Okoro said.

Matthew Igwe, an auto parts dealer at the Auto Spare Parts Market (ASPMDA) located within the Lagos Trade Fair Complex, said, “It’s as if the project is under some oath never to go beyond the Trade Fair Complex. Since Ambode came to power we have not seen any progress on this road. Yet they have demolished properties on the right of way on both sides of the road up to even Iyano-Iba several months ago. Only God knows the business we have lost as a result of the mess on this road. If the government has abandoned the project, they should come out and tell us.”

Apparently worried by the state of the expressway, the Lagos State government through its Public Works Corporation (LSPWC) intermittently undertakes repairs on the expressway in order to provide temporary relief to road users (for instance, LSPWC workers were sighted at Ijanikin during the Tuesday trip to Badagry), residents say these relief measures work only in the dry season.

“Once the rains descend heavily now, these so-called relief measures won’t even amount to a drop in the ocean. The floods will simply wash off everything, making matters worse, and we’ll resort to trekking long distances to get home every day because of the heavy traffic that it will cause,” Juliana Etukudo, who resides at Okokomaiko and works at the Trade Fair branch of one of Nigeria’s tier 1 banks, told BDSUNDAY.

Meanwhile, as the state government continues to shift the completion date for the project, an analyst who spoke to BDSUNDAY anonymously said it was high time the Lagos State government swallowed its pride by as much as possible seeking alliance with the Federal Government to hasten the work on that expressway.

“The previous administration in the state continued to grandstand that they would not allow the FG to come and take glory on a work that they started, but now the state government is stuck,” said the analyst.

“We had expected that now that the Federal Government and Lagos are both APC something would be done differently, but I have read through the agenda of the minister of Power, Works and Housing for 2016 and the expressway is nowhere to be found in his plans for works. That project is his brainchild and the expectation was that as minister of Works it would be his first priority, but he’s not even talking about it. So for those living there currently and those hoping to live there in the future, it is dream deferred,” he said.

CHUKS OLUIGBO