Lagos — Former Israeli Minister for Transportation, Dr. Moshe Hirsh, has said Lagos State Government has been recording an annual loss of about N3 billion to traffic congestion.

Speaking at the first Lagos traffic management conference, Hirsh currently consulting for Israeli Ministry of Transportation however urged the state government to use 21st century technology to control traffic congestion in the state.

The former minister said addressing congestion and safety on Lagos roads require comprehensive approach and argued that what the state government "needs to understand are the causes of congestion on major roads in the state".

Hirsh identified low capacity at intersections, inefficient traffic signal and illegal parking as some of the re-current problems on the road. He also acknowledged accidents as the major non-recurrent problems causing congestion on roads in the city.

He said: "Lagos state government needs to address the chaotic transport situation in the country as it was done in other cities like Istanbul in Turkey, Moscow in Russia, Prague, Tbilisi and others, if the country's economy must improve from its present situation".

Speaking at the conference yesterday, Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) said traffic congestion in Lagos had tasked the creativity and imagination of successive governments both at the level of Lagos as a state and as a federal capital for over four decades.

He added: "Over the years, successive administrations have come up with policies and programmes aimed at addressing the various traffic challenges but lack of continuity, centralization of power and control at the federal level particularly during the Military era had compounded the problem."

"Policies have been usually short-lived in a way that prevented it from being properly evaluated, modified and reformed to meet new challenges," Fashola explained.

He said his administration was convinced to continue the Integrated Intermodal Transport policy started by his predecessor in office noting that the continuation of the policy including LASTMA has transformed the traffic landscape within the metropolis.

Fashola added that his administration has re-branded LASTMA to the extent that the agency has become the unique brand of Lagos for traffic management, restoring order, managing traffic flow, moving broken down vehicles and reducing anxiety of commuters in rush hour traffic.

"It is therefore pertinent that we design and implement an intelligent transport and traffic management system that will complement the status of Lagos state as an emerging model city of Africa," he said.

Despite the daily increase in the number of accident of okada being recorded on daily basis in Lagos, the state government has said it won't ban the two wheel mode of transportation because people who condemned it are still patronizing the riders.