By Lukman Olabiyi
Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu said their no going back on the decision of  the state government  to relocate Sawmillers at Oko-Baba in Ebute- Meta  to a new site at Timberville, Agbowa
 in Ikorodu Local Government.
The governor said both the state government
and the association of sawmillers at Oko-Baba have reached an agreement to relocate  Sawmills to the new site before December..
Sanwo-Olu  disclosed this  at the  inspection of the new site on Tuesday. He was accompanied by   his Deputy, Dr Obafemi Hamzat and other cabinet members for the  inspection tour.
According to him , the project is already at 95 percent  completion and would be delivered before the end of the year.
The Governor stressed that what was left was to mop up the area and establish a police post for security purposes.
Sanwo-Olu explained that the massive Timberville also has 160 units of two bedrooms for the millers, a brichuete plant to be managed by the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) where by-products from the sawmills would be processed into finished product.
“This project was conceived quite a while back like you’ve all observed, it has een on for a very long time. But we’re happy that within our government we activated it back and we have spent a lot of money resource to be able to bring it to a usable and a convenient situation.
“So what you have here, it’s first there must be an access road from the main road up until the site which is about three kilometres. One of the delays were like they have to do like a bridge crossing and that construction is almost completed.
“There are piles that have been drilled and so we should be finishing that road construction very soon. But even in alternative, we’ve done an alternative road for them, which is where, you know, we came in here.
“And part of the facilities that are here is for the potential Okobaba Sawmillers that are coming here, we have got a total of 160 2-bedroom flats that have been completed. We have offices that runs into tens. I mean, you can see all of them, and they have all of their various shapes that have been also built.
“One of the things that we need to do now is to do extensive cleanup, the sheet piles around where they’re going to be parking, everything has been done, what is remaining is for us to clear a trailer park for them.
“For us to clear what we call the boom area. And for us to be able to put a police post and do a fire because of dust and all of it, a small fire service here.
“And the other thing that we also have in this market is a facility which will be managed by LAWMA, which would mean that the byproducts coming out from the mill, from the sawdusts, will be treated here, nothing will be wasted, they will take it back and it’s going to follow so some of the cuts that have been that has happened.
“You can see the leadership of Okobaba represented by the president, Alhaji Ganiu is here, he’s 83-year old man with his officials are here with us, they are excited, extremely excited, they are willing to move in like.
“So they actually just waiting for us to clean up, to ensure that the place is fully habitable for them to start to in terms of agreement. We’ve all agreed completely in terms of political we have 110% political will to do that.
“But we don’t want to just to ask them to move into a place where it’s not fully ready. But you’ve seen the housing have been done. What we need to do is clean up all of the boom area, clean the water hycinth that are there, do a lot of bush clearing for them and just fix things here and there. you can see the Kabiyesis are here, the whole community is excited, waiting for the project to be completed and we have told the contractor, once we made additional funding available, we are hoping that before the end of this year, we all should sing hallelujah, and bring everybody down here.
“The contractor is here and he has assured us that he can complete everything towards the end of the year, so what it means is that in another two, three months, they indeed should be ready to start moving there, they should be ready because you know this thing is over 95% completed, it is the shops, the bush that we need to clear and clean up for them, are the major things that we need to do.
“The rule like I said major route to be completed the bypass route has also been completed it’s really to clean up you know what I signed up because it’s supposed to be what you’re supposed to We’ll clean it up right and get a police post and the fire station which does like six to eight weeks’ job.
“”So once they can see physical improvement in the last one, in the next one month or two months we are, we should be in a position to start to see them. The movement is not one day, you’ll probably take you a week and a half there are machines and everything that has to be in a chronological order.
“They also need to allocate stalls for their members, they need to allocate proper accommodation for those who are literally, two logistics that needs to happen right so we’re believing that before the end of the hour, you should begin to see movements of some sort into this place.
“There’s a massive regeneration that we need. So it’s not something we’re going to rush, you know it is what is going to be, right there has to be extensive environmental study that were started out, we need to complete.
“So we need to do a full urban regeneration of our the design and undo fit for proper, what will be the best alternative use for the place and it’s not something we’re going to rush.
“It’s something that we need to sit with the locals, we need to sit with the communities. We need to sit with all stakeholders to agree. There has to be extensive evacuation, you know, you have to be able to take out all of the things that I’ve settled, says a lot of work, right that needs to be done thereafter. You know, and like I said, it’s not something that will be rushing”, he said
Chairman of the Sawmillers, Ganiyu Onikeku, commended the state government for the initiative, urgung the present administration to rehabilitate the road leading to the site.
The Timberville was the initiative of former governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola and is now being resuscitated by the current governor.