Posted by By RAZAQ BAMIDELE on
The Lagos State Infrastructure Maintenance and Regulatory Agency (LASIMRA) has expressed worry over the incessant collapse of masts in the state.
The Lagos State Infrastructure Maintenance and Regulatory Agency (LASIMRA) has expressed worry over the incessant collapse of masts in the state.
Expressing the agency's worries, the General Manager of LASIMRA, Chief Igbokwe, blamed the development on the use of sub-standard construction materials as well as quacks employed to handle such projects.
Igbokwe, who attributed the mushrooming of masts in Lagos to the city's position as a commercial centre, however, blamed the owners of the masts and some operators of telecommunication services for not keeping to standards and warned that the Lagos government might be pushed into prosecuting owners of collapsed masts as well as the owners of the property on which such masts were erected.
Against this background, the agency has given 'the owners of telecom masts and towers a time grace of 30 days, effective from June 10, 2005, to do a thorough and professional assessment of their existing structures and correct observed defects, failing which the agency would be compelled to dismantle them along with other abandoned masts/towers."
While emphasizing that 'life of one Lagosian is more important than all the masts put together," Igbokwe asserted that 'we all have a collective responsibility to ensure safety of lives and property by improving the standard and qualities of the installed masts."