Lagos
in Nigeria has become the latest city to propose a cable car as a mode
of mass urban transport in a scheme to be completed by 2015.
Ropeways
Transport Limited has signed a franchise agreement with the (LAMATA)
Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority and the Lagos State
government, which will cover the project for 30 years.
Construction
on the first phase of the cable car system will begin in November when
towers, stations and the connecting cables will start to be put in
place.
Once completed, passengers will be able to
travel from Ijora to Iddo; Iddo to Adeniji; Apapa to Oluwole; Oluwole to
Adeniji; Adeniji to Obalende; Obalende to Falomo; and Falomo to
Victoria Island.
Captain Dago Olumide, Chief Executive Officer of
Ropeways Transport Limited, said that the cable car network would help
to solve the transport issues that are currently hampering Lagos and
preventing its economic expansion.
He went on to say: "By
complementing existing transport modes, the Lagos cable car transit
system will play its part in reducing the traffic congestion in the
city."
Lagos is expected to have 25 million inhabitants by the
year 2015, meaning that the current 12 million daily passenger movements
will increase by six per cent each year, putting added pressure on the
existing transport infrastructure.
It can take those travelling
to work by car within the city as long as three hours to complete the
journey and 200,000 new vehicles are registered in Lagos State every
year, Captain Olumide pointed out.
"Presently, there is need to
ameliorate the existing congestion on the three bridges connecting Lagos
Mainland to Lagos Island and to provide a link between Apapa and the
Central Business District on Lagos Island, and also to link Victoria
Island with the Central Business District of Lagos Island. These are
what we hope to achieve with the launch of the cable transit system," he
added.
Cable cars are increasingly being used as an everyday
form of transport across the world, due to the fact that they are green
and efficient, with one currently under construction in Brest in
Brittany.
Posted by Nick Anderson
International Transport News and Sustainable Transport News
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