With the completion of the imposing Ajah flyover and the removal of six round abouts along Lekki-Epe expressway, Governor Ambode seems in a hurry to reach the Atlantic shores with developments along that corridor. Perhaps not quite as intriguing as Xanadu’s city of stately beauty where rivers run through measureless caverns to a sunless sea’, the area is already recognized as the next hot spot for development by investors and real estate developers alike. The overall plan is impressive, boasting of a Free Trade Zone including landmark structures like the Dangote refinery, a seaport, an airport and the permanent site of the Pan Atlantic University.
However, there are crucial factors to be considered, beyond the euphoria of a dream city, in order to realize the ambition of this administration regarding the Lekki-Ibeju dream mega city. The first is the issue of transportation and facilitation of easy movement along the axis. On this count the efforts of the government in restructuring the road architecture is commendable; the removal of the unnecessary round abouts has facilitated the speed of movement along that axis. But there is still more that needs to be done. Besides the much touted coastal road as an alternative, there is still the need to further extend the expansion of the Lekki- Epe expresss to link up Ogun state and other regions along the axis.
There is also the issue of security. The recent kidnapping incidents in the area are not encouraging to would be investors who need an assurance of security in doing business in the area. It is well known that our communities are under policed under the federal system and so it would take an additional initiative on the part of the state government to put in place a security system and apparatus that will elicit sufficient confidence in international investors to come and settle in the area. In this regard the Lagos Neighborhood Safety Corps if properly deployed may significantly improve on the challenging situation.
Third factor which could be relevant in stimulating economic activity in the area has to do with the ease and security of real estate transactions. In line with the vision of the area as an emerging power house, lots of investors are already acquiring property in the area for both commercial and residential purposes. This momentum would however be reversed should it turn out that those who invested in property acquisition in the area have been short changed or robbed of their title to such properties either as a result of fraudulent middlemen or hostile land acquisition policies. In this regard it has been observed that the present administration has made innovations in the land acquisition and registration processes- such as the integration of all the offices coordinating land matters into a one stop shop at Alausa, ikeja.
In all it appears there is a fast paced rate of development along the Lekki-Ibeju axis including the sprouting of numerous residential estates. The investors in these projects are of course anticipating that with the full integration of the Mega city plans and the consequent stimulus to economic activities, they would inevitably receive large returns on their investment. This may well be the case for areas close to the proposed free trade centre and the already developed Victoria Island and Lekki Phase 1. In between however remains a guess if these crucial factors like ease of movement, security and secured land transactions are not competently addressed.