Lagos State Sets Out Spending For 2024
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Lagos State Government has signed a Naira 2.3 trillion (US$1.8 billion) appropriation bill for 2024, which includes an investment of Naira 550.7 billion (US$436.1 million) to develop and maintain infrastructure.
The state will focus on completing ongoing transport projects such as the expansion of the rail network, road construction and completion of the Blue and Red metro lines.
It also plans to finally commence work on the 37km Fourth Mainland Bridge this year, with the groundbreaking ceremony planned to take place in March or April. The US$2.5 billion public-private partnership project involves the construction of the bridge and a tolled ring road, including three toll plazas, nine interchanges and a 4.5km lagoon bridge.
The Fourth Mainland Bridge, touted to become the second-longest in Africa, will connect Lagos Island through the Lekki, Langbasa and Baiyeku towns and across Lagos Lagoon to Itamaga in Ikorodu. The ring road will provide alternative traffic routes from Lekki to Ikorodu, Ikeja to Ajah, relieving the Third Mainland Bridge whose capacity has been exceeded.
The project will be built by a team of China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) and China Railway Construction Investment Group (CRCCIG), which was chosen as the preferred bidder in December 2022.
The Fourth Mainland Bridge has been in the planning for decades with funding and the project’s scale among the key sticking points. The government reactivated the project in October 2019 and issued a request for expressions of interest the following month.
The project includes future construction work, including:
Increasing the ring road from four lanes to six;
A lagoon highway;
Ikorodu lagoon highway;
Lagos-Abuja direct route highway;
A link to the coastal road at Lekki.
Source: Project ESIA report, August 2022For new housing projects this year, the state plans to inject a total of Naira 55.9 billion (US$44.3 million) to address the housing deficit. Projects related to the Lagos Home Ownership Mortgage Scheme (Lagos HOMS) will be advanced, specifically the completion of:
444 units as part of phase 2 of the Sangotedo housing scheme in the Eti-Osa East area;
420 units under phase 2 of the Ajara Badagry housing project in Badagry;
136 units under phase 2 of the Ibeshe housing scheme in Ikorodu.
The state government will also aim for continuous progress on major infrastructure projects such as the Lekki-Epe International airport and the Omu Creek real estate scheme, which will be developed alongside the Fourth Mainland Bridge.
The state will also ensure the completion of infrastructure projects such as the 130-bed Massey Street Children’s Hospital on Lagos Island this year.
The 4.52km Opebi-Mende link bridge being built by the local Julius Berger is scheduled for completion in the second quarter of 2024. The state is also planning to build 12 standard stadiums by the end of October.
Phase 2 of the Lekki-Epe expressway, which runs for 16km from Eleko junction to Abraham Adesanya and is being built by the local Craneburg Construction, is due to be completed this year. Phase 1, which runs for 18.75km from Eleko to Epe T-junction, was commissioned in February 2023.
The Lagos-Badagry expressway, which represents the Nigerian section of the Trans-West African Coastal Highway, connecting Lagos with Dakar in Senegal, is also due to be finished this year.
Lagos’ budget for 2024 includes Naira 180.7 billion (US$143.1 million) for the education sector for continuous investment in educational infrastructure, digital skills initiatives and vocational education.
An allocation of Naira 44.3 billion (US$35.1 million) has been made to bolster food security, with a focus on projects such as the cattle feedlot scheme, fish processing hub programmes and a wholesale produce hub and market.
Top photo: Bill signing ceremony (Source: X/Twitter @ Lagos state governor)
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