The Lekki/Epe expressway was started by the Lateef Jakande administration and completed up to Eleko junction. Subsequent administrations extended the road to Epe long before the inauguration of the Tinubu administration in 1999. It is an existing toll free highway constructed with public funds (tax payers money in action).
This dual carriage way (up to Eleko junction) is an arterial lifeline to the coastal communities on both sides of the road. It is the only highway available to these communities with no alternative routes. This highway has also succeeded in opening up the Lekki corridor. It laid the foundation of the bumper harvest Lagos State Government has been reaping for the past 10 years through sundry property and development charges. It should be stated that there was no noticeable improvement to this highway throughout the 8 years of Tinibu administration.
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The road is a dual carriage way up to and a little after Eleko beach junction. Like most other roads in Lagos, it has its own traffic snag points – especially at Ajah junction and the 3 round-abouts. The traffic snags are not such that cannot be surmounted with proper traffic management. This very important road has now been given to Lekki Concession Company Limited by the Lagos State Government (specifically by the Tinubu administration in 2006) on a concession basis for a period of 30 years. Lekki Concession Company is a hurriedly contrived company established to oversee the Lekki Toll Concession.
Public Private Partnership (PPP) is now one of the means used by government to provide basic infrastructure like roads, ports, rail etc for citizens. It allows the private sector (concessionaire) to participate in the provision of public infrastructure by investing its resources and expertise in return for some profit. PPP is not however a carte blanche as the people cannot be left at the mercy of enterpreneurs whose sole motive is maximization of profits. PPP is governed by some established principles aimed at preventing the exploitation of the public.
One of these is that an alternative toll-free road must be available for road users. This is a sine qua non and is equally commonsensical. With no alternative toll-free road for road users, a monopoly is created and road users are at the mercy of the concessionaire. Certain road users may wish to forgo the advantage of a tolled road and use alternative toll free road. In the instant case, road users would have no other choice but to pass through a tolled road. The Lekki/Epe concession violates this fundamental principle of road concession. This principle is the same in Latin America, Canada, the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia.
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All road users going to Lekki from Victoria Island or residents of local communities along the Lekki corridor intending to go Epe or Victoria Island would have no other choice but to pass through this road and pay tolls at 3 locations (km3, km13 and km23). Only emergency vehicles like ambulances would be exempted from toll payments. Every other vehicle would pay. That government would allow this to happen is unfathomable. This is more so because the Lekki/Epe expressway is not a newly constructed road. It is an existing road. Lagos State Government owes Lagosians the obligation of not reducing the number of non-tolled roads existing in the State. Fair is fair, if any existing road must be tolled, it should be additional lanes constructed on such existing roads.
In fact the concession of the Lekki/Epe expressway seems to have been done in bad faith. And with no regard for the welfare and interest of general road users and the communities along the Lekki corridor. Why? A proposed coastal road, running almost parallel to the Lekki/Epe expreway has been on the drawing board for sometime now. The alignment of the proposed road has been mapped out. Property owners affected by this alignment have been notified and many have been refused planning approval because the alignment of the proposed coastal road would likely affect their properties. It is the proposed coastal road that should have been given out on concession through PPP. Doing this would have given birth to a new infrastructure and added more value to the Lekki Peninsula. It would have been perfectly legal, morally and economically right to toll such a road, as the existing Lekki/Epe express road would have served as an alternative route.
The concession of the Lekki/Epe express road also violates the principle of value for money. How? This is a dual carriage way built with public fund. The road today is worth billions of naira, especially the deck and the bridge portion at the Epe end. This public asset has now been given to a private company for 30 years. What value is the company required to add to this road? In the words of the company “in general the first 6km of the road will be expanded to 6 lanes, although in some areas such as where additional turning lanes are provided, the road width will actually be more that 6 lanes. The road from 6km to 23km will be a combination of 4 to 6 lanes…..Beyond km 23 the road will remain 4 lanes”.
In essence the concessionaire is only majorly adding a single lane to each of the dual carriage ways and some lay byes and turning points. Practically government is handing over a 70+km dual carriage way (a 4-lane road) to a private company for 30 years in exchange for the construction of 2 additional lanes of maximum length of 23km. For the construction of these 2 additional lanes, the company owns the entire road for 30 years, collecting toll at 3 points between km3 and km23, with no alternative route available to road users.
But then certain questions must be asked –
1. Did Lagos State Government make a valuation of the Lekki/Epe expressway before giving it out on a 30-year concession?
2. If so, what was the value of the road when the concession agreement was signed and what is the value to be added by the concessionaire to justify a 30-year concession period during which the concessionaire would practically own the road?
3. Who are the promoters and directors of Lekki Concession Company Limited, Larue Projects International Limited and Hightech Construction Limited?
4. Why give out the only existing road on the Lekki corridor on concession instead of the proposed coastal road?
Getting answers to these questions may unearth the reasons why the whole transaction leading to the concession was done clandestinely. There was no public hearing allowing different stakeholders to have input. It is now the concessionaire is holding post construction meetings – informing property owners they would be fenced off the road, where they are lucky not have their properties completely demolished, trying to foist a fait accompli on them. This road belongs to the people of Lagos State and no concession should have been given on it without affording them the opportunity to review, question and comment upon it. This would have led to full disclosure of the concession’s terms and its related contracts. The concession as presently packaged has no commitment to transparency. The EFFC may need to look into the whole concession transaction. The concession constitutes an economic crime against the people of Lagos State.
Alade Ajose, a lawyer, writes from Ajah [email protected]
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