By Tony Obi
The Lagos State Government has adopted a new strategy under the new Solid Waste Management Policy encapsulated in the Cleaner Lagos Initiative (CLI) to tackle flooding.
Commissioner for Environment, Dr Babatunde Adejare, said government has perfected plans to implement flood prevention programme through all-year-round cleaning and maintenance of drainage infrastructure.
He said under the CLI, state of the art equipment would be deployed towards cleaning the environment, while in addition to 27,500 community sanitation workers that would be employed, mechanised street sweeping machinery would also be deployed to major highways across the state.
Governor Akinwunmi Ambode signed the new Environmental Management and Protection Law, to give the new policy the legal teeth to function efficiently. Government also assembled a consortium of global leaders in waste management led by Visionscape to manage waste collection and disposal, using ultra-modern facilities while still empowering the Private Sector Participants (PSPs) to play key roles in the waste collection process.
Adejare said the initiative was in line with the vision of Ambode to make Lagos a clean, secure and more prosperous state with a robust economy built on service, equity and justice. He added that the initiative was designed to address the deficiencies in the solid waste management sector, while state of the art equipment would be deployed to protect the environment, human health and social living standards of residents.
He disclosed that government in partnership with Visionscape, would provide a twice-weekly service with 600 brand new compactors and 900,000 electronically tracked bins, while transfer loading stations/material recovery facilities in Agege, Oshodi and Simpson, as well as waste depots in Mushin, Ogudu and Simpson would be rehabilitated and transformed to world class standards.
He said engineered sanitary landfills would also be constructed, while over 40,000 new dignified jobs would be provided. He added that the initiative would ultimately go a long way in protecting public health, as well as local and global environment, aside improving the aesthetics of the State through significantly cleaner communities, roads and highways:
“I therefore enjoin Lagosians to embrace the new initiative which is obviously the panacea for delivering efficient and effective management of solid waste in the state with its attendant benefits.”.