Water transportation in Lagos is expected to accommodate between 500,000 to 1million passengers per day when fully operational and it is expected to decongest the roads.
Commissioner for transport, Dr. Frederic Oladeinde stated this while answering questions from reporters during an inspection tour of the Lagos State Waterways Authority, LASWA, in its office at Falomo, Lagos at the weekend.
For now the waterways carries only between 70,000 to 100,000 passengers which the commissioner said is quite low.
He assured that the state government is currently making a lot of investment in the sector to provide all the needed facilities and equipment and make it as safe as possible.
“We will make sure water transportation will be the next best thing in Lagos, water transportation is the next frontier for this administration and that is why we are pumping a lot of resources into the sector.
“We are investing a lot in water transportation, when you look at the administration of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, he has prioritise water transportation as one of the mode that will take pressure off the roads and there is a lot of investments going in there.
“We are making it as safe as possible and I can assure Lagosian that it would be one of the attractive mode in Lagos; currently we are working with Coca Cola that has invested in clearing wreckages from the water and we will encourage more private sector participation.
Speaking on challenges confronting the agency earlier, Managing Director of LASWA, Oluwadamilola Emmanuel said the agency needs among other things an emergency and rescue system, that operators should be certificated and that there is need for capacity building for LASWA staff.