Oshodi Bus Terminal to process over 3m passengers daily

No fewer than three million passengers will pass through the Oshodi Transport Interchange of the Lagos State Government when it becomes fully operational.

This was disclosed on Tuesday by the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the company handling the project, Planet Project Limited, Biodun Otunola, when he spoke with newsmen at the project site.

Otunola said the Terminal 3 of the project, scheduled to be commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday (today), will commence work on May 2.

He said the other two terminals will also be fully ready in the next two weeks.

Otunola said: “Terminal 3 is ready and will kick off operations on May 2 after the commissioning on Wednesday.

“From what we have on ground, you can see that the terminal can take 4,000 persons at once.

“Terminals 1 and 2 are expected to be ready in less than three weeks.

“The terminals are expected to take care of inter and intra city transports.

“About nine million people use transport in Lagos State daily.

“What we have done is to create a state-of-the-art terminal that will ensure security, encourage passengers to shop as they are travelling and make them as comfortable as possible with easy to access ticketing system.

“We have CCTV everywhere to help with security, the entire waiting area is fully air-conditioned and with this development, there will be value added to the state.”

Otunola said the interchange was designed to be at affordable cost to customers, but most importantly for passengers to travel without fear to any destination as the operations at the interchange would be on 24-hour basis.

He said: “The first terminal will cater for inter-city transportation, where all buses going out of the state will take off and drop passengers on return.

“The second terminal will be solely for the Bus Rapid Transit scheme that will cater for passengers commuting from Oshodi to Abule Egba, Okokomaiko, LASU and so on.

“The third terminal will cater for passengers navigating Oshodi to Ikoyi, Lagos Island, Surulere, Victoria Island, Ikorodu, among others.

“The Oshodi project will also make provision for a mega shopping mall to be built through a Public-Private Partnership agreement at the third terminal.

“The three terminals will serve 1,000 modern buses.

“The terminals will also have 1,000 light effects to project the aesthetics of the ambience.

“On completion of the project, Oshodi will be a beautiful zone.

“It will have the toga of: ‘If you don’t spend a night in Oshodi, you have not visited Lagos State.’

“It will be an iconic area where people will want to take pictures.

“This place will be tourism-driven.

“Oshodi had been a no-go area.

“Over 30 parks are here and these will be put into 13 parks.

“The entry and exit points will be modernised and this will bring sanity and orderliness to Oshodi.

“The buses are ready for the first take off in terminal three.”

Hundreds of workers were seen putting finishing touches to the Terminal 3 ahead of its commissioning on Wednesday.

The Oshodi Transport Interchange Project was part of the Bus Reform Initiative of the Akinwumi Ambode-led administration of Lagos State, designed to transform the Oshodi area and enhance connectivity.

The project sought to transform Oshodi into a world-class Central Business District with business, travel and leisure activities.