Lagos picks three firms for mechanised street sweeping

Distributed by the problem of evacuating refuse from overflowing bins and open spaces, the Lagos State Government has announced the appointment of three firms for its mechanized street sweeping programme.

The state also reiterated its commitment to providing adequate infrastructure required to support environmental management in the State.

At a ministerial press briefing, held by the State’s Ministry of Environment, the Commissioner, Mr. Babatunde Durosinmi-Etti disclosed that the three private companies are Avatar, Wastecare and Corporate Solutions.

Durosinmi-Etti further revealed that over 13,000 community sanitation workers to clean the inner streets have been recruited .

He disclosed that the state has also completed 48 mini-waterworks across the State. While the implementation of innovative technology for water management, drainage maintenance remains with the Lagos State Public Works Corporation, Visionscape Sanitation Solutions is in charge of constructing the first engineered sanitary landfill in Nigeria named the Eco Park project located in Epe.

He stated that “the Epe landfill under construction by Visionscape is achieving remarkable progress with the completion of the weighbridge, among other facilities, while Portland Energy and Power is mobilizing to site for the commencement of work on engineered hazardous landfill in Badagry.”

Also speaking on the state’s environmental reforms, Visionscape’s CEO, John Irvine, gave a succinct update on the process of excavating waste on the 88-hectare dumpsite.

“We need to dig deeper than expected to excavate previous waste material and set up a strong foundation. After the construction of the weighbridge and control tower, the next phase is the remediation work.”

The Epe EcoPark would feature a materials recovery facility, an anaerobic digestion plant, a waste to energy plant amongst other features.

He said: “We also have plans to incorporate existing landfill miners (scavengers) into the waste management value chain by including them in the recycling and recovery activities.”