LAGOS State governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, on Tuesday revealed that plans are afoot to replicate the prestigious Dubai Marina in Badagry and Epe areas of the state, saying this was part of measures to harness tourism potentials of the state.
Ambode stated this while fielding questions from journalists shortly after inspecting on-going road projects in Epe.
The governor said to this end, the state government had decided to develop its tourist’s sites that could compete with the best in the world to boost its economic prosperity.
“The road will be dualised with about five meters of walkway in order to make it pedestrian friendly. The intention is to build a modern Marina that can compete with others worldwide. We have already incorporated some of the world Marina design into the project.
“There might be some hotel and malls that will encourage 24-hour commercial activities. It will be mega terminal for water transportation,” he said.
Ambode further explained that the state government gave the project to the contractor FCC Construction Company based on what they had achieved in the construction sector, saying the reason the state government embarked on the project simultaneously was to replicate what “we have studied in Dubai Marina.
“This is a stretch of two kilometres of real estate and tourist centre in Epe and Badagry. We believe that growing the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the state by 2017 to N30 billion and in 2018 to N50 billion. We believe that these projects are inlet to our dream of growing the IGR of Lagos.
“We believe that by the time we expand the tourist potentials of the state especially Badagry and Epe, we will be able to get new investors into the state. They will be doing other things away from what we already have at the moment,” the governor said.
Also speaking, the state Commissioner for Works and Infrastructural Development, Engineer Ganiyu Johnson, added that the government was simultaneously building both the Bagagry and Epe Marina in the two axis of the state.
Johnson said, “Exactly what we are doing here is what is ongoing in Badagry marina. We expect that the contractor hand over the first stage of the project next month August.”
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