By Kingsley Adcgboye

Reacting to the view held by most Lagos residents that roads in the metropolis are in deplorable conditions due to neglect, the Lagos State government last week, insisted that it has delivered on its promise to provide good roads infrastructure.

In fact, the Statc claimed that it has done more than all the other 35 states in the construction of roads and bridges.

Lagos State Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Obafemi Kadri Hamzat, an engineer, who made the claims at the weekend, debunked allegations that the hinterlands have suffered serious neglect in the area of roads construction and rehabilitation. He maintained that it is untrue that government is paying attention to only roads in the urban parts of Lagos, adding that the construction of roads is spread across all the local government councils in the state.

The commissioner 3  noted that the choice of roads to be constructed is not selectively done, explained that roads construction involves a process that must be followed sequentially. He contended that even if the funds are available, it is not possible to do all the roads ‘at th:e same time.

Describing the availability of funds as a major determinant of roads to be constructed, the commissioner noted that these funds are not readily available.

“In Nigeria, we need 97 million US dollars to fix road infrastructure. In Lagos State, we rely on Federal allocation and taAes to fix our roads. However, taxes alone cannot fix our roads because everybody does not pay tax at the same time. The truth is that we are not where we should be, given the resources that are available to us,” he said.

Continuing he said; “Today in Lagos, there are various road projects going on. But when people say that a road in Alimoso or Agege or Ipaja is neglected, what I tell them is that I have to look at the state as a whole. I ealmot look at Agege alone. In other words, if something is going on in Ali~psho for instance, it must be going on elsewhere. It must be going on in Badagry, it must go on in E.pe, it must go on here and elsewhere and not restricted to one particular area”.

Describing the abuse of roads by road users especially ‘Okada’ riders, as the biggest challenge the government is facing, the commissioner who showed slides of some ongoing road project$ abused by ‘Okada’ riders. posited that abuse of roads increases the cost of road construction. “In as rr\uch as we want people to do their legitimate business in the state, road users must be careful with the way they make use of stale roads, particularly the ‘Okada riders. The abuse that we suffer on our roads is too illJIch for us in the ministry to bear. We are spending a lot of manpower because of this abuse of roads, Hamzat said.

The Commissioner claimed that menace of tanker drivers on Oshodi/ Apapa Expressway is hindering the seven road projects the government is executing in the area. He identified other factors hindering the speedy delivery of road projects. They include time wasted in removing oil pipelines, litigation by those to be displaced and compensation to those whose houses are affected.

“Litigation and payment of compensations are other issues to be considered when constructing roads. Affected landlords during road construction must be paid while court cases on roads under construction must be concluded before construction can commence.

Undertaking

of repairs

However, compensations must be paid within the limited funds available for road projects. These are processes that go with road projects during construction”, he said.

Hamzat said the government recently spent N580 million on the bearings on Ekd bridge to make the bridge motorable to Lagos residents. The state government had to undertake the repairs when the Federal government was not forthcoming.

The commissioner said the Federal government is also owing Lagos state 5 J. billion spent on the Lagos/Badagry Expressway expansion work. “We believe that our prosperity depends on the expressway as a state that is why we are building it. We spent N59 billion on the project, but after the auditing carried out between Lagos Statc and the Federal government, both parties agreed on N51 billion which Federal government is yet to pay after two years”, Hamzat noted.