Daily Independent Online.
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Monday, July 26, 2004.
Flood!
LASG wakes up from slumber
Lagos State government may have resolved to find a lasting
solution to the rising cases of flooding in the state. To achieve this, it has
started compiling a master list of structures constructed on the drainage
alignments preparatory to a massive demolition exercise writes Senior
Correspondent, Lekan
Sanni.
Aswani new redevelopment market project
suffers setback
Stories by Dada Jackson
Senior Property and Environment
Correspondent, Lagos
There are strong indications that the construction of
the new Aswani redevelopment market, Osolo Way, Lagos may continue to suffer
hiccups because of alleged wrangling between top officials of the council and
the developer.
Daily Independent investigations revealed that the
council Chairman, Mrs. Modupeola Oseghale, had on assumption of office,
expressed reservations over the manner the project was being handled, which she
described as worrisome.
She said that delay in completing the job was
negatively affecting the revenue of the council, stressing that the project had
dragged on for too long and was giving the council a bad image in addition to
depriving it of revenue.
Daily Independent was informed that the decision to
compel the developer to go back on site might not be unconnected with the
pressure being mounted on the council boss by the authorities at Alausa to
complete the project without further delay.
This development, the source further said, had put so
much pressure on the chairman, whom since the order, had become jittery, hence
the new directive to the developer ‘‘to move back to site and
complete the market by the end of September.’’
Oseghale, who spoke to Daily Independent in her office at Isolo, said the
decision to ask the developer to resume work was not connected with any
pressure from Alausa, adding that it was the figment of her detractor’s
imagination.
Her words: ‘‘I am not aware of any
directive to compel the developer to complete the project by September this
year. But all that I know is that the non-completion of the market had been
affecting the fortune of the council. The earlier the project was completed,
the better for the council.’’
Oseghale, who assumed office after the contract for
the project was awarded, said that there was little or nothing she could do,
except to continue to mount pressure on the developer to expedite work on the
project.
She said
that she had no power to revoke the contract but that as things were going, she
might not hesitate to revoke the contract despite the fact that she did not
award it in the first place.
But a source at the Ministry of Local Government
Affairs at Alausa, who spoke to Daily Independent, on the condition of annonimity,
said the delay in completing the project might not be unconnected with the
refusal of the developer to respond to series of summons from the chairman of
the council for her (developer) to come to the local government secretariat to
explain the reason behind the slow pace of work at the construction site.
According to the source, the developer only responded
to the chairman’s call twice before the relationship with the council
went sour.
The frosty relationship between the council and the
developer, Daily Independent learnt, had contributed immensely to the slow pace of work
at the site, coupled with the paucity of funds on the part of the developer.
Daily Independent, however, gathered that the Iyaloja-General, Alhaja Abibat Mogaji, may
likely step into the matter within the next few weeks to douse the
‘‘bad blood,’’ which the issue had degenerated into.
Some parts of the state have witnessed
massive flooding in recent times and between N2.5 billion and N3.0 billion is said
to be required for an immediate solution.The demolition exercise may likely
affect houses at Ikoyi, Victoria Island, Mushin, Bariga, Shomolu, Agege,
Ikorodu among others.
Jolted by the effect of the recent flooding, the
State Governor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu in company of officials of the state
government, including Works commissioner, Rauf Aregbesola and that of the
Environment Ministry, Tunji Bello, has been touring flood-prone areas and
canals in the state.
The team has visited Itirin Canal, the McGregor Canal
LUTH, Alaka in Surulere, Gbagada, Falomo, Shomolu, Bariga and Ikorodu. Armed
with maps, the governor traversed the course of Itirin Canal from Ajose
Adeogun, down to Kayode Akingbade Street, where it meandered into Aboyade Cole
through to the Lagos Lagoon.
It dawned on the state government officials,
including the governor, that apart from refuse and weed, which obstruct flow of
water, substantial part of the canal have been taken over by human development,
especially around Kayode Akingbade Close and the Itirin Court.
Substantial parts of buildings around Kayode
Akingbade Close and a radio station, a newly constructed one-storey building, a
generator house and the fence and temporary structure within the premises of
the Lagos State Water Corporation at Itirin Court would have to be demolished.
Tinubu was also surprised when he visited the
Atlantic Royal Gardens off Solomon Close in Victoria Island where the Canal had
been incorporated into the building premises with manholes less than four feet
constrained apparently for cleaning purposes.
At LUTH
where a part of the canal is being dredged, there is no free flow of water at
the moment. The Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on
Governmental Affairs with oversight functions on ecology, which rounded off a
three-day visit to Lagos last week, Mr. Dayo Oguniyi, described the problem as
“probably insurmountable.”
The canal is terribly silted with sand and refuses
while the encroachment of the area by human activities compounded the problem.
The canal at Alaka is being dredged just as Bariga, Bajulaiye, Gbagada and
Shomolu. The governor has also visited Ikorodu with the Onisigida area of the
town prone to incessant flooding due to the blockade of the canal.
The governor has announced the composition of a
demolition team with himself as the leader. Other members include the deputy
governor, Mr. Femi Pedro; three commissioners, Tunji Bello (Environment), Rauf
Aregbesola (Works) and Hakeem Gbajabiala (Physical Planning), as well as the
consultant on drainage, Bunmi Santos and Director of Drainage, Mrs. Oyenekan
are members.
According to Mr. Layi Raheem, 20 district officers of
the authority throughout the state are currently compiling the list of
offending structures to general manager of Lagos State Physical Development
Authority (LSPD A).
“As am talking to you, out of the 20 district
offices that we have, as at Monday, the 19th of July had collected an updated
list from nine and we are waiting for the other 11. We should have returns from
the remaining ones by Monday 26th of July and bring up the master list of
structures affected by and make publications and then, we expect responses
where, who knows, may be, they (owners of such structures ) somewhere along the
line, have obtained an approval fraudulently with or without the connivance of
some unscrupulous officials,” he reiterated.
According to Raheem, the governor has the political
will to go all out and demolish the concerned structures; otherwise he would
not have embarked on the tour.
The general manager gave indications that the
government would not spare anybody in the exercise.
‘‘What you refer to as the socio-economic
impact of such exercise. But nobody can go to court and plead ignorance because
these drainages did not meet the structures there. The structures met the
drainages there and you cannot imagine how recklessly people rebuff advices
given to them before they move into such areas,’’ he said.
Already, the governor had blamed the elite for
causing some of the flooding by their violation of planning regulation.
He had also said that owners of properties demolished
would have to bear the cost of such an exercise.
Raheem
stated, that the poor also have lackadaisical approach to planning matters.
According to him, for instance, more than 80 per cent of structures in Agege,
are without planning approvals, while the entire drainage channels there are
virtually blocked, with many of them not even accessible.
The problem of the state is further compounded by the
habit of the inhabitants who have turned the primary, secondary and tertiary
channels into dumping ground for refuse.
Commenting on this, Oguniyi noted that his committee,
in the course of its assignment, found out that the people of the state are not
ready to address the problem of their environment.
‘‘This environment has been completely
degraded. We pray not to have epidemics because the way it is going, the whole
place may be submerged in water because everybody has blocked the
drainage’’.
He described ecological problem in the state as
multi-dimensional even as he noted that although, the state ‘‘is
trying its best to solve the problem,’’ it appears as if they have
not contacted competent hands to handle most of the drainage works.
The chairman also blamed council chairmen in the
state for not addressing the issue of drainage by clearing adequately unlike
other states.
‘‘We have not seen any sign of local
government using the fund allocated to them for drainage. It looks as if the
attitude of the people in Lagos is lackadaisical. We want to plead with the
people of Lagos to be environmentally conscious,’’ he said
The chairman said his committee might recommend some
‘intervention fund’ for the state from the Federal Government as
Lagos alone cannot single-handedly solve the problem
The state said it had only received N800 million as
ecological fund between 1999 till date. This amount was said to have been
received between 1999 to 2002, contrary to disclosures by President Olusegun
Obasanjo that more than N4 billion had been given to the state.
The major problem confronting the state now is
whether the government has the political will to carry through the demolition
threat.
There is also the problem of finance as only a paltry
N600 million was set aside for this year’s budget to fight the menace.
The state government has also requested for assistance from
the Federal Government while it is also hoping that the World Bank will resume
its World Bank Assisted Drainage Project, which was suspended during the dark
days of the late Abacha regime.
