Lagos denies completing Lekki-Epe expressway concession buy-back

Lagos — Lagos state  government said it was yet to complete the buy-back of the concessionaire agreement it entered into with Lekki Concession Company, LCC, the concessionaire handling the 49.63-kilometre Eti-Osa-Lekki-Epe Expressway.

*Gov Fashola

The state government also said that it was not receiving the required support from the Federal Government on blue line of the light rail project, expected to run from Okokomaiko-Iddo-Marina Line.

Commissioner for works and infrastructure, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat disclosed this in Ikeja.
On the concessionaire agreement with LCC, the commissioner said: “At the moment, we are engaging the concessionaire.”

It will be recalled that the state House of Assembly had at a special plenary session in August last year, approved N7.5 billion supplementary budget to accelerate the transfer of ownership of the road to the state, seven years after both parties signed the concessionaire agreement.

According to Hamzat: “It is still fluid. We haven’t signed the required agreement with the LCC. We have not concluded the buy-back. It is after conclusion that the state government will be able to determine what will happen. And it is at that time we will spread everything out to the public.”

The commissioner explained: “By the concessionaire agreement and the financial model, LCC is expected to have increased the toll at this time due to the exchange rate in the country.”

He noted that when the agreement is completed, the state government will make it known to the public.
On how the Federal Government is frustrating the blue line of the light rail, Hamzat explained that when the state approached the central government with its plan to use the rail terminal in Iddo, Lagos, the Federal Government did not welcome the idea.

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