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LAMATA refutes reports
on Lagos roads
By
Foster Obi
Snr. Transport Correspondent,
Lagos
The
Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), one of the three agencies
responsible for road maintenance in the state, has rejected reports that the
roads in Lagos are bad, saying that the facts on ground contradict such
assertion.
LAMATA’s
Senior Specialist External Relations, Mr. Lanre Dada, said “although the
state government said it is committed to road rehabilitation, yet not much has
been done especially since the second coming of the administration.”
A
statement by the organisation, signed by Dada said: “Everywhere one turns
to in the Lagos metropolis, there is visible evidence of on-going road
rehabilitation works being executed by Lagos State agencies, including LAMATA
and its counterpart agencies, the protracted heavy rains notwithstanding.
“Contractors
can be seen working assiduously on Glover Road, Ebute-Metta, Jagunmolu/Sogbamu
Street, Bariga; Olumo Street, behind Queens College; Idimu Road; Isolo Road;
Fatai Atere way near Coca Cola, Mushin (starting with drainage works); Ijegun
Road (starting with drainage works).’’
The
statement noted that“all but the last of these are major road maintenance
works referred to as periodic maintenance, involving application of asphalt
overlays, reconstruction of walkways, road markings and installation of
concrete lined drains to control flooding.
“The
last one is more intensive still and is referred to as rehabilitation
maintenance. It involves reconstruction of pavements and application of an
overlay of 50-millimetre thick hot rolled asphaltic wearing course. It also
involves the reconstruction of drainage systems, kerbs and pedestrian
walkways.”
Explaining
further, he stated that routine and recurrent maintenance works could also be
seen being executed on even a much larger number of roads in the Lagos
Metropolis.
“The
routine maintenance works involve drainage clearing to reduce flooding, road
sweeping and cleaning, vegetation trimming and haulage of disposable materials,
while recurrent works involve filling or sealing of cracks, repair of potholes,
treatment of swellings, depressions, etc on the roads.
“These
on-going works constitute part of the 85 contracts already awarded under
LAMATA’s first year work programme, the statement said, adding “the
contracts, valued at &21.3037 million or N2.876 billion, cover routine,
recurrent and periodic maintenance, as well as complete rehabilitation works.
“Fifty
nine of the contracts are routine, 22 recurrent, 3 periodic, while 1 is
rehabilitation. The contracts are being executed on total of 176 roads over a
distance of 514.1 kilometres across the Lagos Metropolis.”
The
statement maintained that the unique thing about the contract works is that the
contractor is under obligation to keep the road in good condition for a period
of one year, in which case even when a new damage occurs on a stretch of road
already completed, the contractor has to put it right, at no extra cost.
“It
needs to be emphasized that through LAMATA’s road development programme,
the Lagos State government is doing more than improving roads. It is also
creating jobs.
These
contracts have together generated direct employment for about 6,000 grassroots
people in Lagos State.
“The
drive, determination and commitment with which LAMATA has tackled its road
maintenance task is underscored by the fact that many of the 59 routine and 22
recurrent contracts have reached about 70per cent completion while others are
at various stages of completion.
“On
the periodic maintenance woks, it is noteworthy that 14 roads have been
completed viz: Iganmu Road, Randle Avenue, Wakeman-Bornu Street, Church Street,
Savage Street, OgulanaDrive, Adelabu Street, Adeniran Ogunsanya Drive , Ladipo
Oluwole Avenue, Balogun Road, Oba Akinjobi Street, Tinubu Oyewole Street,
Majolate Street, Akanbi Street and Sipeolu Street.”
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