By Kingsley Adegboye

FOR Lagos State Public Works Corporation, LSPWC to realise its vision of becoming the “foremost road maintenance and rehabilitation Agency in Africa”, the Corporation has set new targets aimed at raising the bar of progression in performance for 2014.
Specifically, strategic plans have been put in place by the road maintenance outfit to do better this year than it did in 2013.

Unfolding the targets of the Corporation for 2014 at a press briefing last week, Mr. Gbenga Akintola, Executive Chairman, LSPWC, explained that “raising the bar always has been the cornerstone of our progression in performance since 2010. As a result, the modest achievements of yester-years are considered as mere stepping stones towards covering the gap between where we are and where we want to be as indicated in our vision statement”.

According to Akintola, an engineer, the Corporation has set a target to work on 1,400 roads in terms of road maintenance in the state this year as against the 988 record of 2013. This target, he said, will be easily achieved because the two new asphalt plants strategically located in Badagry and Imota areas in Lagos state will significantly boost the speed at which road maintenance needs of the state shall be met.
Another target of the Corporation for the year is to replace 350 manhole covers and gratings in the state. This is a significant increase compared to the 251 replaced in 2012/2013.

Akintola who stated that more equipment will be procured to boost the equipment fleet of the Corporation this year, said the equipment include four tipping trucks, four utility vehicles, four tractors with tipping trailers, six number of four tons rollers, one mobile mechanical workshop and one vibratory 12 tons roller.

The LSPWC boss  disclosed that production of paving stones is another target of his Corporation for 2014. He pointed out that through the Corporation’s in-house paving stone production factory, a total of 33,120 square metres of interlocking paving stones shall be produced this year as against 26,840 square metres produced in 2013. “We believe that this will allow us step up our programme in terms of using this method to intervene in sections of our roads that paving stone work will technically suffice as an effective solution to damaged roads, especially on roads with flooding and drainage challenges”, he said.

According to Akintola, “our effort in drains shall receive a boost in 2014 as we intend to construct 2.80km length of drains as against 2.67km constructed in the previous year. By this, we can further guarantee that our maintenance work will last longer as they will be supported by functional drains where necessary.

“Our flagship plant at our Ojodu headquarters shall undergo turnaround maintenance in 2014 with a view to upgrading its automation capacity towards achieving the objective of waste reduction and make production more efficient. Metropolitan Lagos roads shall receive more attention from this year as asphalt produced from the plant at the headquarters shall be utilised focusing on such roads while the two new plants shall address roads in far suburban parts of the state.

“In order to step up our advocacy campaign to enforcement level during the year, the Corporation has concluded arrangement to provide solution to a major question which many of you have always asked during interview sessions as how do we enforce the relevant laws to dissuade people from indulging in activities that cause damage to our roads?

“Following our enlightenment campaigns on radio, television, newspapers, outdoor and other means of reaching the people, we are now set to work in collaboration with the Lagos State Environmental Task Force to begin to monitor the environment in an attempt to arrest on the spot anyone caught in the act, prosecute them and apply the necessary sanctions as provided for in the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Law, Akintola clarified.