By Yusuf Boluwatife
The Minister of State for Health, Senator Olorunimbe Mamora has disclosed that the number of commuters transiting from Lagos mainland to Lagos Island daily is estimated to be six million.
According to NairaMetrics, he stated this during the inauguration of a jetty at the Tin Can Island Port in Lagos on Saturday.
Mamora explained that the Tin Cam Island Port would take off two million commuters from the Lagos gridlock daily.
He said, “It is estimated that an average of six million commuter’s transit from the Lagos mainland to Lagos Island daily.
“Which equally takes travel time of about three hours, whereas ferry transportation, through the inland waterways, will take thirty 30 minutes to reach the destination.
“This means of transportation will equally take off about two million commuters from the Lagos gridlock.’’
The minister said that the project was approved in the fourth quarter of 2018, with the aim of addresing the peril of pollution, which had been a major problem hampering water transportation on some of the ferry routes in Lagos.
“The intervention by the Federal Government on the construction of the jetty will bring about a huge relief and assuage the fear of erosion and other ecological challenges in the Tin Can area.
“Hence, NIWA had identified the CMS – Mile 2, as the busiest ferry route, with high pollution rate along the river banks, as well as siltation along the ferry channel,” he said.
Mamora also explained that these challenges had affected ferry services adversely as marine litter and the shallow channels had made service operators to avoid those routes.
He, however, stated that the goal was to make this routes operational again by upgrading the existing jetties and make through the removal of silt and solid wastes along the channels.
