According to the Lagos State government, electric-powered ferries will power the €410 million Omi Eko water transportation project.
The Lagos state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, disclosed this information on Wednesday during investors’ roundtable in Lagos. He also briefed stakeholders and investors on the state’s plans to develop its waterways and look into potential for public water transportation.
“We are starting a project with the World Bank called Omi Eko. It’s about a €400 million in which we will be buying a lot more electric-driven ferries. We’re building a lot more terminals and jetties and the private sector can come in and partner with us,” he stated.
The Omi Eko transport project, an endeavor of the Lagos State Government to decarbonize public transportation under the Lagos State Climate Action Plan 2020–2025, was granted funding during the 28th Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (COP28), which took place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in December 2023.
Investments for the inland waterways project would be funded by an AFD loan of €130 million, an EIB loan of €170 million, a €60 million grant from the European Union, and the remaining by the Lagos State government.
The project is estimated to achieve a large carbon reduction of roughly 41,000 tCO2 per year.
The governor emphasized that in addition to reducing carbon emissions, the initiative may relieve traffic on Lagos’s already overcrowded roads by offering a practical and quicker way to commute.
“We need to take 20-25% of our people using the waterways. From here to Ikorodu will take you an hour and a half. If you go by waterways, in 45 minutes, you’re in any part of Ikorodu. So there’s no better means in terms of doing it than for us to do our water corridor.”
Between 2024 and 2030, the Omi Eko project is anticipated to be completed, with the building of 25 ferry terminals. The governor announced to the investors that 15 more ferries had been reserved.
In March of this year, a boat mishap in the state’s Ikorodu district killed four lives, making it the week with the most drownings ever recorded in Lagos.
The governor pledged to protect Lagosians and stated that the Omi Eko project will be given top priority when it comes to implementation.
“I am confirming and assuring you that our public water transportation is equally as safe as our road transportation,” he said. “We want to utilise more of the natural waterways that nature has given to us. One-third of Lagos is water…So we need to be able to ensure that our citizens trust and believe that public water transportation is safe…We have made deliberate investment there.”
