China built a light rail for Nigeria, and it turned out to be so good that it handed over the follow-up light rail project to us, and this light rail is the Lagos light rail.
Lagos is Nigeria's seaport city, and although it is not the capital, it is the most populous city in Nigeria, with a total population of more than 23 million and growing, according to the Global Urban Institute, which predicts that in another 100 years, Lagos will become the world's most populous city.
There are many people, it is a burden for the traffic in Lagos, due to the underdevelopment of public transportation, traffic jams have become commonplace, there is a local joke, that after you get in a taxi, you are stuck in the road, you have to get off the bus to go to a nearby restaurant to eat, after eating, drinking, take a nap, and then go back, the car is still motionless, after a few hours, you finally arrive at your destination.
The best way to solve traffic congestion is to increase public transportation facilities, such as: subway, light rail, etc., but Nigeria does not have light rail technology, if you want to develop, you have to ask for foreign aid, so who is better?
In fact, Nigeria proposed a plan to improve Lagos' transportation as early as 1983, but after the new leader came to power, the plan was scrapped. It was not until 2000 that the then Governor of Lagos, Bora Tinubu, re-proposed the construction of the light rail, and later continued to advance on this plan, and in 2008, the Lagos government decided to build seven light rail routes, of which the Blue Line and the Red Line were the first projects.
In 2009, China Civil Engineering Group won the bid for the Blue Line, the first phase of the 13-kilometre-long, five-station and 80 km/h railway infrastructure to traverse the densely populated areas of western Lagos.
The construction began in 2010 and was completed in December 2022, you must feel that China has made a move, why did it take 10 years, in fact, it is not our reason, the original plan was to complete the construction in 2011, but halfway through, the local funds are short, and the completion date can only be postponed. It was not until December 21, 2022 that the first phase of the Blue Line was completed, and in January 2023, the Blue Line began to operate, and residents along the route liked it very much, one teacher said that in the past, she had to spend 3 hours a day to work, had to get to the bus 3 times, and often encountered traffic jams, but with the light rail, she only needed 45 minutes, and the pressure was suddenly reduced.
The first phase of the Lagos Red Line project is 26.5 kilometers long, with 8 stations, all of which adopt Chinese technical standards, and started in April 2021. This time, I didn't encounter any moths, so it only took 3 years and was opened in February this year.
After the opening, the effect was really very good, in the words of the locals: everything is good, but there are too few seats. It's not that there are really few seats, it's that the people of Lagos have too much demand for the LRT, and there are too many people.
With the first phase of the blue line and the red line, a successful precedent, the second phase of the project has also been carried out smoothly, of which the second phase of the blue line was signed last year, the second phase of the red line was signed this year, and there are still 3 lines to be built in the future.
China is helping Nigeria build light rail, and is also cultivating a team of local talents, among which the Blue Line project uses more than 2,000 local employees, who will become local engineering construction talents, and the future development of Nigeria needs them.