Nigeria’s Lagos State Government this week disclosed a plan to build, with Japan’s help, a $1bn monorail that would link Marina, Ikoyi and Lekki.
The Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Akinyemi Ashade, made the disclosure at a ministerial news conference on 9 May, reports Naija247 News.
Ashade said the state government had partnered with the Japanese International Corporation Agency (JICA) "to invest in a possible monorail project that will link Marina to Oniru in Victoria Island, and Ikoyi".
The commissioner, who put the cost of the monorail project at $1 billion, added that the project would be designed "to later connect to the Lekki rail project which is also in the works".
He said a detailed feasibility study had been commissioned on the monorail project to validate the initial survey, which would eventually lead to an investment of $1 billion in the construction if the results of the feasibility study are positive, amongst other conditions that must be met.
Japan is trying ramp up its exports of rail technology throughout the world. In January the governments of Panama and Japan agreed a $2bn deal to finance the construction of a monorail for Panama City.
Image: A market in Lagos (Zouzou Wizman/Wikimedia Commons)
