Lagos Votes N1.5bn For New Market

The Lagos State Government has concluded plans to rebuild
the popular Sangrouse Market in Lagos Central Business District into an ultra
modern facility.

The project expected to be done under a public
private-partnership arrangement is located between Simpson and Louis streets
and could be approached from the Third Mainland Bridge through the Sura
Shopping Complex Mandillas Building area.

The market which would be upgraded into a mix-use ultra
modern affairs is expected to gulp N1.5bn private sector funds in a 25-year
period in partnership with D.H.B Construction Limited.

The market is one of the first markets in Lagos central
business district that serves high profile patrons from Ikoyi, Victoria Island,
Dolphin and its environ.

The Chief Executive Officer of  D.H.B Construction Ltd, Chief Alabo Bakare
said this was the main reason the project was important to the economy of
Lagos. He said his company was venturing into the project to enable it key into
the desire of Governor Babatunde Fashola, who wants to make Lagos a model city
and the mega city that it presently represents.

“To have such an edifice will complement the effort of the state
government ,” he said. He further explained that the present makeshift market
would be transformed into an ultra-modern market and would be the first of its
kind in the state.

The development arrangement, he added, was among D.H.B
Construction, Lagos Island Local Government and Lagos State Government which
has a build-operate and transfer arrangement for a period of 25 years after
which the project would be handed over to the government. He said the role of
the LGA in the PPP arrangement was the administration of the market and that
was why the local government was signing it off on behalf of the state
government. Bakare urged the existing tenants in the market not to be afraid of
being displaced as they would be given the right of first choice as was done at
Gbaja Mall.