We Need N60 Billion For Water Project- Commissioner
The Lagos State Commissioner for Environment, Dr. Babatunde Adejare on Tuesday said the enormous challenge posed lack of portable water in the state is giving government great concern, saying about N60 billion is needed to execute projects in the state.
Adejare said this at a press briefing held to commemorate the second year in office of the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode.
He said, “Water production is not cheap. No one believe that our population will be over 20 million. We have so many people in Lagos. The state government is working hard daily to meet resident’s water need. We have a deficit of 500 million gallon daily. To construct the 70 million gallon water Adiyan 11 will cost the state N60 billion.
“It is almost 70 percent completed. But don’t forget that this facility does not meet the state water need. Igbo-nla water plant is still there and the projects will cost the state huge sums of money.”
According to him, the ongoing reform in solid waste management, tagged the Cleaner Lagos initiative (CLI) billed to commence some weeks from now, will improve the socio-economic conditions of the residents of Lagos State by tackling the problems of poverty and unemployment.
He pointed out that the Solid Waste Management (SWM) sector had been identified as critical to the realization of the vision of present administration to position Lagos as a clean, healthy and livable state.
Adejare stated that the sector therefore required urgent attention to bring it to the required level of international standard as its current situation, which had necessitated the reform of the entire solid waste management sector, clearly did not align with the Lagos State Government’s vision for the Lagos of the future.
“Current realities in this sector reveal deficiencies across the entire process chain, from insufficient collection services, to inefficient transportation methods, and abysmal disposal practices that are not only wasteful in terms of resource utilization but also injurious to environmental and public health” he said.
The Commissioner pointed out that Lagos State, in its 50years of existence, had grown exponentially in population thereby impacting on solid waste management and sanitation as a whole, adding that at present the daily waste generation in the state officially stood at 13,000 metric tonne.
“Faced with the challenge of urbanization, the state government had to think unconventionally and come up with a model that will not only prioritise sanitation but create the enabling environment for private participation,” he said.
According to him, devolving the provision of Solid Waste Management services to the private sector will birth a new financially viable and technology-driven sub-sector to the Lagos economy, creating new businesses and job opportunities that can be emulated by other States in the Country.
He said, “These reforms are all encapsulated under the ‘Cleaner Lagos Initiative’ (CLI) with a broad strategy of creating an environment for the private sector to harness international best practice in this vital area of infrastructure.
“The CLI aims to protect the environment, human health and social living standards of Lagos residents by addressing the lacunae in the existing legislation and refocusing the scope of LAWMA to enable the agency enforce, regulate and generate revenue from the waste management process.
“The components of the Cleaner Lagos Initiative include Residential Waste Collection and Processing, Commercial & Industrial Waste Collection, Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Drainage Maintenance, Provision of Engineered Sanitary Landfill ,Manual Street Sweeping, Mechanised Street Sweeping, Provision of Transfer Loading Stations(TLS), Material Recovery Facilities(MRF) and Marine Waste Collection.”
Adejare maintained that under the Cleaner Lagos Initiative, waste generated by the commercial sector would be handled by licensed waste management operators (PSP) while an environmental consortium would provide waste collection processing and disposal services for residential properties.
He said that a reputable and competent multinational Waste Services Company would be concessioned to provide waste collection services to all residential premises in the state through the deployment of state of the art machinery and equipment, adding that the concessionaire would provide a twice- weekly service with 600 brand new compactors and 900,000 electronically tracked bins.
