By Moshood Adebayo
LAGOS State Government yesterday said the relocation of the popular Alade Market, Ikeja to a new site is irreversible.
Commissioner for Local Government and Community Affairs, Muslim Folami said this when he met with stakeholders of the market at the Government Secretariat, Alausa, yesterday.
This is even as the concessionnaire, Mr. Lai Omotola said there was no order from any court stopping them from relocating to a new site.
Omotola, who is the managing director of Master Reality Limited, said due diligence was followed in the relocation of the market to its new place.
“We did our due diligence before we started the construction of this new market. The new Alade Market is well-built with modern facilities, adequate security and spacious park to enhance the megacity status of Lagos.”
According to him, the construction of the new market was one of the conditions given for the outright relocation of the old Alade Market.
“This is a N6.9 billion partnership project. We gave the shop owners six years notice despite the fact that the local government has been on the issue of relocating the market for over 20 years.
“In this facility, we have 504 shops; meanwhile, the mandate is to build 300 shops but we extended it. People came to say they wanted en-suite shops; we did it for them. We have 350kva generator and another 150kva. We built 20 toilets and 200 key-clamps.”
He expressed delight that majority of traders in the old market had relocated and assured them of adequate security.
Omotola said if Nigeria must move forward, it is largely dependent on private sector, which is through Public Private Sector Participation.