Lagos State terminates Lekki Concession Agreement
By Adeola Ayinde
Controversy surrounding the Lekki-Epe Expressway has further been expanded as the Lagos State Government announced the termination of its concession agreement with the Lekki Concession Company following the approval of the supplementary budget, which gave it the right to acquire the existing concession rights and toll revenue benefits held by the concessionaire.
The state Governor, Babatunde Fashola had in a supplementary budget proposal letter to the state House of Assembly dated August 19, 2013,
had requested to amend the 2013 year’s budget owing to unforeseen developments in terms of the state’s internally generated revenue.
Fashola in his letter stated, “The proposal for further amendment is largely predicated on the need to fund the acquisition of the existing concession, right and toll revenue benefit held by the Lekki Concession Company, the concessionaire for the Eti-Osa-Lekki-Epe Expressway. This will effectively accelerate the transfer of ownership of the road to the state, leaving the state with wider policy options with regards to that important infrastructure.
“In order to address these issues, we have proposed a two-prong approach namely: re-ordering some expenditure provisions and also directing supplementation of the year 2013 budget. This will entail an increase in the overall budget size by N7.5bn. This is against the background of a projected shortfall of N22.5bn in budgeted internally generated revenues, which now need to be covered by the additional borrowings.”
The proposal, approved by the assembly on Tuesday. This development thus increased the budget from N499.6bn to N507.105bn.
A human rights lawyer, Mr. Ebun Olu-Adegboruwa, has been in court to stop the LCC and the state government from enforcing the toll collection until the coaster road/alternative route was constructed for those that might not use the road. NigerianEcho findings showed that the lawyer has not been pursuing the case in court lately.
