By Olasunkanmi Akoni

While the outgoing government in Lagos State prides itself as having performed creditably in the area of construction and rehabilitation of roads, many Lagosians think otherwise and have been expressing their displeasure in this regard. Indeed, there have been so much hue and cry from Lagos residents over the parlous state of many roads belonging to federal, state and local governments in the state.

The complaints of many over the development derive the untold hardship to motorists, residents and other road users as quality man hours are daily lost to the resulting traffic gridlock. Apart from that, many bad roads or failed sections of such roads have become death-traps as tragic accidents on them them are known to have claimed many innocent lives.

Such roads include Iyana-Ejigbo Road, Ladipo Auto Market Road, Daleko Road, Ipaja Ayobo Road by Jakande Estate, Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, among others.

Neglect of the area

The roads are said to have remained the same in spite of claims by the Lagos State Public Works Corporation, LSPWC, which was established in 2010 by Governor Babatunde Fashola, that it had been up and doing in repairing and maintaining roads in the state. In fact, one Mr. Akeem Arowolo, a resident in Oshodi, accused the state government of neglecting the area, especially in road infrastructure. “Since I moved to Mafoloku, the roads have remained in bad condition without any government intervention.”

Also, Mrs. Asabe Alex, a resident in Ejigbo, said residents suffer untold hardship everyday while passing through the Iyana-Ejigbo Road, adding that the situation got worse since a contractor abandoned the reconstruction work on the road. She, therefore, urged the out-going government to come to their aid before the end of its tenure.

LSPWC’s intervention: But LSPWC General Manager, Mr. Gbenga Akintola, believes that the complaints are sometimes exaggerated, adding that his corporation has been doing its level best to address road demands in spite of daunting challenges. He added that the LSPWC is determined to bridge the gap and has sprung into action by moving into the inner roads that serves as feeder roads to the major roads.

According to him, between year 2010 and 2015, a total of 4,104 roads were worked on by the corporation, which is a significant improvement. He attributed this to the fundamental changes and innovations that had been introduced.

This feat, he disclosed, was made possible through Governor Fashola’s assistance in the procurement in 2010 of important and necessary state-of-the-art equipment to enhance the capacity of the work force. Taking off with just two tractors and a pay loader, it gradually increased its equipment fleet to more than 60 heavy duty and medium equipment.

Interlocking paving stones for road maintenance was incorporated into the road maintenance approaches, especially on roads in water-prone areas or places with severe drainage challenges. This process, it has been established, last longer than just applying the asphalt premix which gets easily damaged.

Mr Akintola said in order to consolidate this method in a more efficient way, the corporation established paving stones and kerbs production factories in its yards in Ojodu-Berger and Badagry.

He added that to expand its maintenance activities to efficiently cover all nooks and crannies of Lagos, the LSPWC proposed and received Governor Fashola’s approval to set up two new asphalt plants in Imota (Ikorodu axis) and Ajido (Badagry axis). These two plants have production capacity of 160 tons of asphalt per hour. While the one in Imota was commissioned by Fashola in February 2014, that of Badagry is presently awaiting commissioning even though it has started full operation since December 2014.

Interestingly, the Imota plant covers over 420 roads located in Ikorodu, Epe, Ibeju-Lekki, Ikorodu and part of Eti-Osa Local government, while that of Badagry is to cater for over 400 roads in Ojo, Amuwo-Odofin, Ajeromi-Ifelodun and part of Alimosho local government areas.

Vanguard Metro, VM, was also informed that before Akintola came to the saddle, LSPWC was not involved in fixing of manhole covers and gratings. However, due to public outcry on the danger posed by removal and vandalisation of the steel-made manhole covers and gratings by some unscrupulous persons, the corporation researched into and introduced a new type made of recycled plastic which brought zero market value and thereby dissuade those who usually remove them to sell at the steel market from doing so.

As a result, the corporation has used this product to fix many manhole covers and gratings across the state in phases. Between 2011 and 2014, a total of 591 manhole covers and grating were replaced, while replacement of 492 in the third phase is presently on-going.

LSPWC under Akintola is said to have been re-engineered and equipped to carry out its functions day and night, at weekends and even during public holidays. This new orientation, it has been claimed, helps it maximise efforts during the dry season when road maintenance work can be easily carried out without inhibitions from rain.

It also allows for emergency operations on road defects that pose serious threat to life. During night operations, traffic jam that usually characterise roads that are being worked on during the busy hours of the day can be easily avoided.

However, sometime in 2012, the state government, was compelled to beef up the capacity of LSPWC with the result that certain roads were assigned to the corporation for full scale construction involving drainage work, road surfacing, culverts as well as installation of street lighting facilities and lane marking. The huge benefit to tax payers derives from the fact that such works are done via direct labour approach, thereby helping government to cut cost significantly.

Some of the roads done under such arrangement are Emmanuel Kolawole Street (Somolu), Soluyi Street (Kosofe), Ladipo Kuku, Allen (Ikeja), Oba Adeboyega (Epe), Oshundairo Street (Agege), Oluodo Road ( Ikorodu) and Jamiu Alli Balogun (Apapa) amongst others.

Corporate identity

Under Mr. Akintola leadership of the LSPWC, a logo, VM was told, was developed giving the corporation a distinct corporate identity which helps members of the public to easily identify its officials whenever they are at work.

Stemming from the logo is the official yellow colour which is the bedrock of the branding of men, machines and equipment used by the corporation. This has achieved the purpose of repositioning the agency as a professional outfit and to also take ownership of its operations rather than in the past when it was usually mistaken for LAMATA, FERMA and other MDAs carrying out similar functions.

At the beginning of the repositioning effort, a new vision and mission statement was crafted, circulated and shared by all members of staff and other stakeholders. The several innovations introduced brought about a boost in the morale, commitment and by extension productivity of the members of staff.

Abuse/Prosecution: Arising from these developments, over 30 persons were said to have been brought before the magistrate in 2014 and made to pay fines for various offences on activities that can lead to road damage.