Multilevel car park is thriving business in Lagos

Statistics elsewhere show that Lagos now plays host to over two million cars out of the about 15 million vehicles in Nigeria. Experts project that about one million vehicles or more ply Lagos roads daily. This huge number of vehicles does not just come with traffic issues but presents a challenge on how to properly […]

Statistics elsewhere show that Lagos now plays host to over two million cars out of the about 15 million vehicles in Nigeria. Experts project that about one million vehicles or more ply Lagos roads daily. This huge number of vehicles does not just come with traffic issues but presents a challenge on how to properly park them.
Findings by our correspondent show that 50 percent of Lagos traffic snare could be reduced if proper parking facilities are provided for the vehicles as most times, cars are parked by the roadside thereby causing a significant degree of traffic jam.
But the huge number of vehicles in Lagos is opening up a vista of lucrative business opportunity for the discerning. There are a number of commercial car parks springing up across Lagos in addition to the ones administered by officials of local councils. The fees charged range from N20,000 to N500 depending on where one parks and the time of the day the parking is done.
However, because of the space constraints in the commercial areas of Lagos, some organisations are investing in multilevel car parks.
The Murtala Mohammed Airport, MMA2  Multi-Storey Car Park in Ikeja blazed the trail about eight years ago when it commissioned the first commercial multilevel car park in Lagos.
The car park has been operational since MMA2 started operations on May 7, 2007. The facility offers more than 800 public parking spaces. Located directly opposite MMA2 terminal, it is open for use by the general public upon payment of a parking fee. The rates are, N300 for the first hour and N100 for very additional hour spent. Overnight tariff is N2,600.
Operators of MMA2, Bicourtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL), embarked on the project to lessen the burden of passengers and other airport users. Each of the floors of the four-floor 800-capacity car park has a fully automated entry and exit barriers and column gate. The new system comes with automated time-stamped ticket and various electronic applications, such as windscreen chip, access card and drive touch button.
Other providers of multilevel car parks in Lagos include Mega Plaza in Victoria Island and Ikoyi Club 1938. The newly completed Ikoyi Club multilevel car park, however, is non-profit making as it is only accessed by members of the prestigious club.
Mega Plaza multilevel car park on Idowu Martins Street, Victoria Island has four floors and can take about 500 cars at a time. All cars parked in the facility pay N200 each regardless of the number of hours they are parked there.
Though capital intensive, experts say, multilevel car park is highly lucrative especially in commercial centres such as Lagos.
This was confirmed to Daily Trust by BASL’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), Bisi Awoniyi who said the business is profitable and encourages investors to explore the multilevel car park business.
“We have broken even on our multilevel car park facility,” she said, adding that “MMA2 car park facility inspired others to build similar facility. We are happy we opened the space.
“At the time we started, the aim was not profit making but to make operations easier and give the travelling public more comfort. But there is nobody that would invest and not want profit so the facility has to pay for itself. We have recouped the cost of investment.”
She added: “If we have opportunity, we’ll build similar facility outside of the airport environment and run it as a business. The car parks you have in Marina are actually a waste of land. With the space in Marina, you can build three multilevel car parks. Each can contain at least 800 cars at a time. It is an investment I’m thinking about and we may diversify into it someday.”
But beyond profit making and recouping its investments, the facility helps to reduce traffic at MMA2 and also serves the need of people who come to the airport with their vehicles. Awoniyi said: “A lot of people come to the airport for various reasons. Some come to pick people who are arriving from travels, some are dropping people off at the airport and some even come to do various transactions at the airport. We have a lot of businesses around the airport; so people drive down to the airport to shop, have a meal in the eateries at the airport and they need to park as well. If we don’t want them to park on the road, we would have to provide a car park for them. This is why we decided to build the multilevel car park,” Awoniyi explained.
“Right now, people come to park at our facility even when they are going to other agencies or offices around the airport. So it’s a multilevel car park for the general public. We have been able to help the federal government decongest traffic on the airport road. You can never find any car parked by the roadside at the airport. This indeed has made the job of FAAN and Road Safety officials very easy,” she noted.
“I can say I am quite pleased we have this kind of car park because it makes the vicinity of the airport very serene just the way the federal government wants it,” she added.
Also speaking to our correspondent, the Ikoyi Club Ag. General Manager, Mrs. Roseline Adegoke said the club’s multilevel car park also helps to decongest traffic on the Ikoyi Club road and adjoining roads.
According to her, with the facility, all Ikoyi Club members and guests have sufficient space to park their vehicles, thus no one would park by the roadside any more.
She explained that it took about two years to complete the about N2 billion facility that can accommodate 295 cars at a time.
The facility, she said, is only open to the about 20,000 members of the Ikoyi Club. It is exclusively for the use of members who are not charged any fee for its use. This is because the members were levied to build the car park.
The only commercial offering in the car park, Adegoke noted, would be the branding of the various floors by members or oragnisations but not outside the car park walls of the Ikoyi Club – a para-hospitality club established in 1938, that provides sporting and entertainment facilities to its members.
Whether for private or public use, however, the multilevel car park is proving to be the solution to the car park and indeed traffic challenge in Lagos.