Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the Governor of Lagos State, revealed that the state intended to launch a commercial airline.
During the Lagos West Senatorial District People’s Town Hall Meeting on Thursday at the Balmoral Convention Centre, Sheraton, Ikeja, Sanwo-Olu revealed this.
Sanwo-Olu claims that discussions for establishing a state-owned airport have been ongoing for a few months. According to him, the state is nearing completion on choosing the project’s finance strategy.
When asked why there isn’t a commercial airline in a state the size of Lagos yet, Sanwo-Olu said that the plan is being developed.
“Over the last five months, the Deputy Governor and I have been working to put a concise plan together for the establishment of an airline, but we did not make the plan open because of the need to get adequate knowledge about the operational procedures of airlines.
“The business plan is viable and there is no issue about financing. The conversation has gone to an advanced stage but we need to get the proper information on operations before we go ahead to implement the plan,” Sanwo-Olu said.
Furthermore, the governor declared that work on the eagerly anticipated Fourth Mainland Bridge would start in the first quarter of this year, specifically “by the end of March or April.”
While acknowledging that the bridge will be built gradually, he guaranteed that building owners and occupants who had their buildings removed for development would receive fair compensation.
“We’ve done extensive work on the bridge. But we are at the crossroads of where to get the real financing for that kind of project. We’ll need to be very very creative.
“Our commitment is that within this first quarter, meaning that by the end of March or April, we should break grounds to start the construction of the Fourth Mainland Bridge,” he added.
