Lagos Cable Cars Ready in 2015- Ropeways

Dapo Olumide, chief executive officer,  Ropeways Transport Limited, operators of Lagos cable cars said that the proposed alternative means of transportation will be ready in 2015.

Olumide also former managing director of Virgin Nigeria Airlines who was guest at Channels Television’s weekend breakfast programme, Sunrise, said the cable cars will operate around on three routes around the Adeniyi Adele axis.

According to Mr Olumide Ropeways Transport is investing $500 million (about N81 billion) to launch a cable car mass urban transit system in the nation’s commercial capital, Lagos.

The cable car transit system is the first in the quest in Nigeria to provide commuters affordable, safe, timely and stress-free mode of transportation, particularly in urban centres like Lagos.

Already, Ropeways Transport Limited has signed of a 30-year Franchise Agreement with the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) and the Lagos State Government for the execution of the project.

Under the terms of the agreement, Ropeways Transport will this November, begin the construction of towers, stations and connecting network cables along various routes covered in the first phase of the project, namely, Ijora – Iddo, Iddo – Adeniji, Apapa – Oluwole, Oluwole – Adeniji, Adeniji – Obalende, Obalende – Falomo, and Falomo – Victoria Island. The project is expected to be fully completed and commissioned by early 2015.

According to him, when completed, the Lagos cable car transit system would incorporate several standard safety features, including auxiliary drives and hydraulic brakes to prevent passengers being stranded, lightening protection on towers, ropes and stations, as well as solar panels on each cabin roof, to provide power for cabin interior and exterior lighting.

There will also be passenger monitoring with CCTV and audio communication links and passenger address systems.

The project will be powered by several sources namely, IPP’s, dual-fired primary power turbines and dual-fired back up power turbines, with sufficient number of static inverters to provide 30 minutes of backup power.

The Project uses Doppelmayr’s proprietary technology. Founded in 1892, Doppelmayr is a Swiss/Austrian specialist company that manufactures chairlifts, cable cars, gondolas, surface tows for ski and amusement parks, as well as urban transport systems.

Doppelmayr cable car technology has successfully been used in locations like Merida, Venezuela; Roosevelt Island, New York, USA; Caracas, Venezuela; Medellin, Columbia; Portland, Oregon, USA; and Tlemcen, Algeria. Others are Constantine, Algeria; Koblenz, Germany; Ngong Ping, Hong Kong; Sentosa Island, Singapore and Sky Rail, Australia. The company is also presently executing similar projects in Bosporus, Turkey; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; La Paz, Bolivia and recently in London, England.