FOR the purpose of regeneration, the Lagos State Government said it has awarded contracts to deflood the entire Lagos Island.
Parts of the areas to be deflooded, according to the Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Mr Tokunbo Wahab, included Oroyinyin, Idumagbo, Binuyo, AroloyaEpe and Ojo-giwa amongst others.
The commissioner disclosed this during the ministerial press Briefing on the 6th Year of Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration in Lagos.
He explained that the project had already commenced, adding that the state government has also constructed a state-of-the-art pumping station in order to eliminate the problem of tidal effect in the locality.
He described the pumping station as “the first of its kind in Africa” at Ilubirin, adding that it was designed to pump discharged storm from Lagos Island into the Lagoon via an elevated channel after the completion of the ongoing Lagos Island Drainage Regeneration Project.
Contrary to insinuations, the commissioner said the state was actively leveraging natural purification processes to improve the quality of water in the lagoon and canals whilst ensuring that the authority engages in continuous surveillance and enforcement measures that ensure that businesses and residential areas comply with wastewater management policies to reduce pollutants in waterways.
At the last count, he hinted that the state through the Waste Water Management Office deployed three Modular Septage Pre-Treatment Plants (MSPP) that enabled efficient treatment of fecal sludge before discharge into the OdoIya Alaro water body.
Besides, he said: ”In order to ensure a clean city, we are daily deploying 15,000 street sweepers across highways, inner roads and markets whilst also ensuring stronger enforcement of environmental laws, penalizing illegal dumping and indiscriminate waste disposal alongside several measures.“
The state in recognition of the need to address open defecation, he said, would be constructing modern public toilets in markets, transport hubs and informal settlements “just as the construction of additional 150 new public toilets is on-going alongside an additional 250 toilets being executed through the public private partnership under the WASH initiative.
