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Three months after the commencement of toll collection at the admiralty toll plaza on the Lekki Expressway in Lagos by the Lagos Concessioning Company LCC, residents and motorists have continued to complain about the traffic congestion the toll fee collection is causing and the lack of alternative routes.
When SaharaReporters visited the toll plaza today, the traffic had stretched from the toll collection barricades all the way back to the Mobil headquarters building and was still building up.
Frustrated motorists told SaharaReporters that the commencement of tolling on the road has created more hardship which has compounded the already terrible traffic situation in the Lagos metropolis.
We spoke to several road users in the area and one of the first respondents, Mr. Chinedu Achunine, CEO, whattodonext Nig. Ltd. said, "I think the feasibility study of this project was not properly done. The contractors did not take into proper consideration the volume of traffic on this road. And I think that is why we have to go through this horrifying experience every time we go through here even after paying tool". He urged the government to suspend the collection of tolls at the plaza until collection points are redesigned or increased to ease life for road users.
Another respondent Mrs. Wunmi Adesoji, a business consultant similarly lamented the traffic chaos created by the ill-advised policy, "I don't blame LCC. I blame the Fashola-led government that connived with his god-father to rip off the people of Lagos State. They promised us alternative routes, where are they? Every day when you are rushing out, after collecting your money, you still get stuck in traffic because somebody deceived us that he is doing PPP. And to think that we will be in this slavery for 30years is very traumatic. My prayer is that one day an opposition party will win the state, reverse this obnoxious concession and deal with Fashola and Bola Tinubu, his godfather"
In another reaction Mr. Ayoola Ogunbona, a cooling systems technician stated, "honestly the road is better now, but the arrangement at the collection points is not tidy and this is creating long traffic queues every day. The absence of alternative routes that the government and LCC promised is also a huge disappointment for us and I wonder why they rushed to begin toll collection when they had not lived up to their promise to provide alternative routes. If this kind of traffic situation is what we are going to experience in all the three toll gates; because there is one at Chevron and another is planned further down, then this PPP is not worth it. Fashola must tell his master Tinubu to have mercy on Lagosians."
One of the toll collectors who spoke to SaharaReporters on condition of anonymity expresses his sympathy with road users and was of the opinion that the time was not suitable for tolling to commence pending the provision acceptable alternative routes.
The concessionaire LCC commenced toll fees collection on the Lekki Admiralty Plaza on December 19th 2011 after a protracted battle with residents of Etiosa LGA. An earlier plan to commence tolling was shelved by Governor Babatunde Fashola for fear of losing the April 2011 gubernatorial eections in the state, which was around the corner. After winning with a landslide victory, the Mr. Fashola connivingly turned his back on the voters by imposing tolls in a concession agreement that is known to belong to his predecessor in office, former governor Ahmed Bola Tinubu.
Lagos lawyer and human rights activist, Ebun Olu-Adegboruwa has dragged LCC and the Lagos State Government to court over the concession agreement. The suit is pending at the Court of Appeal in Lagos.
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