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 Daily
Independent Online.
* Monday, July 05, 2004.
PSP operators’ zoning arrangement postponed
By Dada Jackson
Senior Property & Environment
Correspondent, Lagos
The zoning arrangement for
private sector participating scheme (PSP) operators in Lagos State, which
would have begun last month has been postponed.
A source told Daily Independent that the
proposed zoning of PSP operators into 25 zones for the purpose easy
monitoring and operational efficiency had to be postponed due to
agitations by majority of the operators.
According to the source, who is a top
official of the state’s Ministry of Environment, the zoning arrangement,
which was an idea of the Commissioner for Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello,
was meant to streamline the operations of the numerous PSP operators in
the state.
The commissioner was said to be piqued by
the untoward activities of some PSP operators, who had in the past been
involved in unprofessional behaviour.
According to Bello, ‘‘some PSP operators
were found to be lacking the wherewithal to carry out their operational
activities, thereby negating the purpose for which the scheme was set up
in the first place.’’
Bello had at a stakeholders’ meeting with the PSP
operators and top officials of the Lagos State Waste Management Authority
(LAWMA) and Highway Managers (Waste management contractors to the state
government), fashioned a way out of the haphazard manner, the PSP
operators had been operating in the state.
At the said meeting, Daily Independent
gathered, it was unanimously agreed by all the parties, that the state
should be zoned into 25 zones, for the purpose of monitoring the
activities of the operators.
According to the proposed arrangement,
every PSP operator was expected to operate within the preview of his
specialization, aside from having the financial capacity to effectively
manage the waste/refuse being generated in his area of jurisdiction.
However, some of the operators are kicking
against the proposal, arguing that the whole arrangement was laced with
prejudice.
They hinged their argument on the claim that those who
have godfathers in the ministry of the environment, were being zoned to
‘‘fancied’’ local government areas, while those of them who were
suspected to be in political parties outside the ruling party, were being
zoned to unprofitable local government areas.
Daily Independent learnt that these accusations and counter accusations, may have
stalled the take-off of the zoning arrangement, as the commissioner in
the ministry has directed that the matter be put on hold to allow for all
grievances to be properly addressed.
This development may have been responsible for the
postponement of the commencement date, earlier scheduled for June. The
new take off date, has been tentatively put at August 1, 2004, by which
time all outstanding issues would have been fully addressed.
The new date for the commencement of the
scheme, some stakeholders observed, is bound to have a telling effect on
the state government resolve to control the activities of PSP operators
in the state .
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