For the first time in the history of Nigeria, a cable car company, Ropeways Transport Limited, is set to launch a cable car mass urban transit system in the nation’s commercial capital, Lagos. This followed the signing of a 30-year Franchise Agreement between Ropeways Transport Limited, the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) and the Lagos State Government recently. Under the terms of the Agreement, Ropeways Transport will this November begin the construction of towers, stations and connecting network cables along various routes covered in the first phase of the project, namely, Ijora – Iddo, Iddo – Adeniji, Apapa – Oluwole, Oluwole – Adeniji, Adeniji – Obalende, Obalende – Falomo, and Falomo – Victoria Island. The project is expected to be fully completed and commissioned by early 2015.
Speaking on this development the Chief Executive Officer of Ropeways Transport Limited, Capt. Dapo Olumide expressed his belief that the Lagos cable car transit system would provide an alternative means of mass transportation in the city and it will help ease the current transportation hassles in Lagos and help restore dignity to commuting because the current situation hampers economic development within the city and negatively impacts the quality of life of it’s residents. “By complementing existing transport modes, the Lagos Cable Car Transit System will play its part in reducing the traffic congestion in the city” he said.
According to him, studies show that Lagos will become the world’s 3rd largest city with 25million inhabitants by 2015, with approximately 12 million daily passenger movements and trips in the Lagos Metropolitan Area, set to increase at a rate of six per cent per annum. “The existing metropolitan highway infrastructure is severely constrained, with journeys to and from work within the city regularly exceeding three hours.
“In addition, studies carried out in 2009 on vehicle registration shows that an additional 200,000 vehicles are registered annually in Lagos State. This equates to 222 vehicles per kilometer of road in Lagos, which by far, outweighs the national average of just 11vehicles per kilometer of road, with vehicles estimated to contribute more than 70 per cent of the ambient air pollution in Lagos,” he said.
These problems, he said, can be effectively eliminated with this new technology. “Presently, there is need to ameliorate the existing congestion on the three bridges connecting Lagos Mainland to Lagos Island and to provide a link between Apapa and the Central Business District on Lagos Island, and also to link Victoria Island with the Central Business District of Lagos Island. These are what we hope to achieve with the launch of the cable transit system,” Olumide said.
On the safety of the cable car system, the Ropeways CEO described it as one of the safest means of transport worldwide.A 2009 study by the Vancouver Metropolitan Transport Agency in Canadadetermined that passengers are 20,000 times more likely to be involved in a fatal accident in a vehicle than in a cable car…
According to him, when completed, the Lagos cable car transit system will incorporate several standard safety features, including auxiliarydrives and hydraulic brakes to prevent passengers being stranded, lightening protection on towers, ropes and stations, as well as solar panels on each cabin roof to provide power for cabin interior and exterior lighting. There will also be passenger monitoring with CCTV and audio communication links and passenger address systems.
The project will be powered by several sources namely, IPP’s, dual-fired primary power turbines and dual-fired back up power turbines with sufficient numbers of static inverters to provide 30 minutes of backup power.
The Project uses Doppelmayr’s proprietary technology. Founded in 1892, Doppelmayr is a Swiss/Austrian specialist company that manufactures chairlifts, cable cars, gondolas, surface tows for ski and amusement parks as well as urban transport systems.Doppelmayr cable car technology has successfully been used in locations like Merida, Venezuela;Roosevelt Island, New York, USA; Caracas, Venezuela; Medellin, Columbia; Portland, Oregon, USA; and Tlemcen, Algeria. Others are Constantine, Algeria; Koblenz, Germany; Ngong Ping, Hong Kong; Sentosa Island, Singapore and Sky Rail, Australia. The company is also presently executing similar projects in Bosporus, Turkey; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; La Paz, Bolivia and recently in London, England.
