Lagos New Bridge Opens, Toll To Wait

Lawmakers of the Lagos House of Assembly
have deferred a decision on the tolling of the
new Lekki-Ikoyi bridge opened by the Lagos
State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola,
amidst fanfare today.
The Lekki-Ikoyi suspension ridge: Assembly stalls
toll collection
The 1.358km long suspension bridge cost about
N29 billion, almost $184.6million. It was built by
Julius Berger.
The lawmakers, except the Speaker, Adeyemi
Ikuforiji, and Sikiru Oshinowo, all rejected the
proposal which was brought to the House by the
State Government on the basis that the one-
kilometer bridge was built with tax-payers fund and
not on a public private partnership deal.
The government had sought the approval of the
lawmakers on initial maximum tolls of N250 for
saloon cars; N300 for mini vans, Sport Utility
Vehicles (SUVs) and light pick-up trucks; N400 for
non-commercial buses with a maximum sitting
capacity of 26 persons; N100 for motorcycles with
200 cc engine capacity and above.
But the lawmakers wondered how the residents of
the State would feel to understand that they would
pay for using the same bridge built with their
money. Attempts by Ikuforiji to convince the
members on the importance of the proposal and
how beneficial it would be to the State was
rebuffed.
The drama began when the Leader of the House,
Dr. Ajibayo Adeyeye, moved the motion on the
'Concession Agreement for Electronic Tolling
System (ETS) of the Lekki-Ikoyi Toll Bridge.'
Adeyeye had stated while presenting the motion
that pursuant to the Lagos State Public Private
Partnership Law, 2011, "this House do resolve to
approve the request for the Ratification of the
Electronic Tolling System Operations and
Maintenance; Concession Terms and Conditions for
the Lekki-Ikoyi Bridge and Approval of the Fare
Regime, as forwarded by Attorney-General /
Commissioner for Justice, Lagos State."
The motion was immediately seconded by Sultan
Adeniji-Adele and Speaker Adeyemi Ikuforiji was
about to approve it, when the Deputy Speaker,
Taiwo Kolawole argued that the opinions of
members on the motion must count before any
approval by the Speaker.
Explaining later, the content of the motion, Dr.
Adeyeye explained that a company, the Lagos
Tolling Company, had been solely registered by two
other foreign companies for the purpose of
collecting tolls on the bridge.
He said the agreement reached between the State
Government and the concessionaires was that 73
per cent of the gross revenue from the tolling would
go to the State Government, which constructed the
bridge, while the remaining 27 per cent would go to
the company.
He said the agreement between the State
Government agreement with the company was for
the company to manage the tolling for 10 years and
that this is renewable by another five years.
He said the companies were bringing into the
tolling system modern equipment to make the job
easy. In their reactions, the lawmakers reminded
the Speaker that the House had agreed to pend
deliberations on the document containing the
proposal until they digested it.
They also said it was not the best for residents of
the State to pay for using the road. Representative
of Epe Constituency 2 at the House, Segun Olulade,
while raising objection, said some things in the
proposal were not clear.
"We should put away the tolling for now as this
would not affect the commissioning of the project,"
he said.