Lagos disagrees with FG on roads maintenance, begins repairs in Olorunda, Badagry

THE apportioning of blames between Federal and Lagos State over whose duty it is to repair major roads in Lagos is becoming worrisome. 

  Recently the Minister of State for Works, Mr. Dayo Adeyeye, accused Lagos of not doing much in the area of road construction while the Lagos state Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, stated that the assessment by the minister is misleading.

   Again, late last week, Adeyeye, while commenting on the state of roads in Lagos, noted that only three roads that belong to the federal government are in good condition. These are Funsho Williams Avenue, Third Mainland-Oworonshoki and Eko Bridge-Costain axis.

  According to him, with the resources available to the State government, all the roads in Lagos supposed to be tarred by now.

  But in his reaction, Hamzat said such assertion is not only ridiculous but also misleading, stating that federal government roads consisted of only 11.4 per cent while state and local government roads constitute 88.6 per cent. 

  According to him, facts remain that, Lagos State as a responsible government, does not discriminate in construction, reconstruction and rehabilitation of roads in Lagos, including bridges whether they are classified as federal, state or local council roads.

    He listed some of the rehabilitation of federal roads and bridges to include the same Funsho Williams, Agege Motor Road from Mushin, the ongoing Ikorodu road expansion, Orile-Badagry expressway, among others.

   Among the bridges are the Eko Bridge expansion joints, including fixing of its bearings, an exercise that cost almost N500 million.

   Besides, the Commissioner noted that the reconstruction of Central Business District (CBD) that is statutorily belongs to the federal government was undertaken by the state government, stating that the reconstruction of Apapa is also underway.

   Explaining the work stages at the ongoing Ikorodu-Ketu and Orile-Badagry, he said the execution of work on the projects had reached appreciable levels. 

   Meanwhile, residents of Olorunda Local Council Development Area (LCDA) in Lagos can now heave a sigh of relief as the state government has approved repairs of some bad roads in the area. 

   The hinterland roads being upgraded, as part of urgent intervention of the state government, are Ibiye, Esepe and Magbon all in Olorunda council. 

   Commissioner for Rural Development, Cornelius Ojelabi, and top officials of his ministry inspected the project sites recently and gave order that works should begin immediately. 

   Ojelabi assured the community leaders and residents that government would upgrade the roads to provide palliative measures within four weeks in order to make them motorable and bring respite to the people.

   He urged residents to bear with the state government, as the upgrading would cause little discomfort to road users, even as he advised community leaders to open up their streets for access to the alternative routes, pending the completion of work.

   According to him, you have to tell your people to be patient because little hardship will be encountered during the period work continues on the roads. We are going to engage your people for the work.

   Ojelabi stated that contracts for the upgrading of the roads had been awarded to locals and they should ensure they did not inflate the cost of the materials needed for the projects. 

   He said by awarding the contract for the roads to locals, government is creating employment for residents.