The administration of Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State will,
in about 24 hours, be clocking 1,800 days in office. Shortly after, precisely on May 28, it will be marking the first anniversary of his second term.
During the events to celebrate the landmark, participants from informal sector and professionals are expected to chart the way forward in the ongoing infrastructure development.
The Fashola government has raised the Public- Private- Partnership, PPP, way of doing things to an enviable level, which according to watchers is said to be attributable to the cooperation of the residents.
The administration prides itself in changing ways of doing things to expedite service delivery.
As part of activities marking the first year of the second term, various ministries in the state have also been giving their scorecards in the last 365 days, with many highlighting their achievements and challenges.
ONE of the critical measurements of any administration’s performance is the infrastructure development, as seen in the road network.
Road development has been identified as the most fundamental infrastructure for the socio-economic development of any society. It is, therefore, not surprising that the development agenda of the Lagos State government, the Ten-Point-Agenda, TPA, which seeks to fight poverty and enable sustainable economic growth, has a core component of road construction and rehabilitation.
The decision to do so was appropriately taken since there is a proven direct correlation between development of this infrastructure and the growth of the economy.
Massive rahabilitation of old roads in the state
In line with provisions of the state’s TPA, successive administrations since 1999, had accordingly, committed significant resource to improvement of the state’s stock of road through development of new roads and massive rehabilitation of the old ones.
Apparently, in order to re-plough the huge amount spent into repairing federal roads in the state government recently, demanded a refund of about N59 billion from the FG being the cost the state used to rehabilitate and maintain federal roads. The state Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, gave the breakdown during the 2012 annual ministerial news conference.
Hamzat, who put refund of state expenses from the FG at N59 billion, said: “the state government really needs to invest in developing critical infrastructure and facilities in the state.” He also unveiled plans by the government to build an eight-storey state secretariat annex, which he said, would be allocated to all ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) that are not resident within the main secretariat.
Similarly, the state government has re inaugurated a six man board of directors for the Lagos State Waterways Authority, LASWA, in its commitment to fully exploit the potentials of the waterways in the state and realised its inter-model transport policy.
Inaugurating LASWA Board of Directors, Commissioner for Transportation, Mr. Kayode Opeifa, said it was also done in recognition of water transportation as a vital form of transportation in the mobility of people and goods in the state.
Opeifa, who commended the vision of Governor Babatunde Fashola, for encouraging private participation in the transportation sector in order to bequeath to Lagos residents an effective, efficient and affordable inter modal transportation system said that he had no doubt that with the caliber of personalities appointed to serve on the Board, water and public transportation in the state will be taken to a greater height.
The state government recently signed an agreement with an Australian boat manufacturing company on the acquisition of 60 ferries to further boost water transportation in the state. Fashola who signed the agreement on behalf of the state with Aluminium Boats Company, Brisbane, Australia, after inspecting a prototype of the ferry, explained that the state government was acquiring the ferries in conjunction with a local consortium, Eko Water Buses Limited.
He said: “The ferries, with a capacity of 200 passengers each, will be built by the company to suit the state`s water transportation system.” The state expects delivery of the ferries by December and that they would be deployed immediately to different routes for full operations.
The ferries will be managed by the consortium and the Lagos State Waterways Authority, LASWA, in line with the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model of the state government. “As part of the positive spin-off from the agreement, no fewer than 50 Nigerians will benefit from a comprehensive training programme in marine operations, boat services and repairs.”
The governor also restated the state government‘s commitment to safe and reliable water transportation in the state, saying the acquisition of the ferries was a demonstration of the commitment. Fashola who attributed the rapid growth of Nigeria in the early 60s and 70s to the existence of a functional rail system noted that the present slow down is a result of financial and technical shortcomings, inefficiency, non- payment of worker’s salaries, low work morale, neglect and sabotage.
Calling on the federal and state government as policy drivers to co-operate in order to make the reactivation of the sector a reality, Fashola noted that rail transportation system would definitely have multiplier effects on the economy just as failure to do so would lead to an unending cycle of building roads.
He also called on both governments to recommit a large percentage of their budgets to the continuing enhancement of road infrastructure.
Lagos, Germany diverse partnership
The state government and the Federal Republic of Germany are also collaborating in developing institution on waste to wealth programme as part of measures aimed at improving effective management of waste in the state.
The state Commissioner for the Environment Mr. Tunji Bello, at a four-day workshop on the Theory of Constraints, TOC, for Lagos State characterization study, sponsored by the state government and Messrs AT Association, a consultant to German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, under IGNIS, (income generation and climate protection by vaporization of municipal solid wastes in a sustainable way in future mega-cities).
Bello, who noted that the state government had successfully implemented some core areas of waste management hierarchy which include storage, collection/evacuation and transportation, added that the last component which is treatment and disposal of waste management programme had been left undone.
The collaboration would no doubt boost the implementation of the state government’s waste to wealth programme with the goal of achieving the hidden value of waste as a resource, such as energy, compost, biogas, ethanol among others. Meantime, on its agro-allied efforts, the Federal Government has allocated about 50 hectares of farmland to Lagos State in Abuja to support the food production efforts of the state as part of measure to ensure food security and improve internal agricultural production in the country.
Agricultural production
Commissioner for Agriculture and Co-operatives, Mr. Gbolahan Lawal, at recent briefing explained that the 50 hectare farmland in Abuja, is located in Kuje area of the Federal Capital Territory. The state government, according to the commissioner would soon begin cultivation to boost food supply to the state. Also, the construction of a Farmers‘ Wholesale Market with 100shops, cold storage facility, mini-abattoir and ample space for parking has commenced in Poka, under the Federal Government programme.
Housing projects: The state government has restated its commitment to the provision of affordable housing for the teeming prospective home owners in the state in its second term. The Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Housing, Hon. Jimoh Ajao, weekend in Lagos, said that Fashola had given approval for construction of more low cost housing estates in the state to solve challenges by lack of accommodation in the state.
He explained that the government provided the land for the project, while the developer injected their funds to build the houses, adding that the profit that the government would make from this partnership will be invested in the Lagos Homes project to fund the constructions of social Housing Scheme.
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