Posted by RASHEED BISIRIYU and FUNKE ODUWOLE on
TEMPORARY replenishment of the eroded Bar Beach on Victorial Island will cost the Lagos State government N2 billion.
• Dutch firm bags contract
TEMPORARY replenishment of the eroded Bar Beach on Victorial Island will cost the Lagos State government N2 billion.
Already the contract for the project has been awarded to a Dutch firm which is expected to execute the job in six months to stave off the perennial ocean surge and its attendant threat to lives and property in the area.
Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello and his counterpart in Physical Planning and Urban Development ministry, Mr Hakeem Gbajabiamila disclosed these in separate interviews with Daily Champion last weekend.
In the last five years, the Federal Government had sunk about N4 billion into temporary replenishment of the Beach including pumping of sand to contain the ocean surge which has threatened lives and properties around the Victoria Island.
The tussle between the state and federal government over ownership of the area was a major setback to past development efforts there.
But Mr Bello said that the latest effort by the state government is real and intended to achieve great result.
He told Daily Champion in an exclusive interview that although the project is a temporary measure, it would however serve the purpose of curtailing the ocean surge at the Lagos Bar Beach for five years when a permanent solution must have been put in place.
"I can assure you that in the next three months, you will see physical changes. We have brought in the Dutch who are masters of ocean surge. We have engaged them and they are already working on the Bar Beach," said the commissioner.
Also confirming the deal, Mr Gbajabiamala, said the remedial work would cost the state about N2 billion.
He said arrangement for the permanent solution to the surge is still being worked out.
"Presently we can not put a price or cost on the permanent solution we are still working on that but I can tell you that it's going to cost a lot of money considering what it would entail and it will put a complete stop to the problem of ocean surge at the Bar Beach."
To ensure that the impact of the ocean wave does not extend to the road, Mr Bello said "the Dutch firm would put some barriers and reclaim some land that will ensure that the sea would be pushed back away from the road by at least a kilometre." He did not disclose the name of the contractor.
Giving a hint into a permanent solution to the perennial Bar Beach surge, the Environment commissioner said the job, which would be done within a period of two years, involves groins reconstruction.
"It is like the sea in Amsterdam or Israel where they have wave breakers at strategic areas of the shore, curtailing the power of the wave at different levels. This is what we want to do with the Bar Beach. It would gulp a lot of money but it is something we have to do to ensure the safety of lives and property of the people in the state.
On the state government's waste to wealth project, Mr Bello disclosed that a firm, Earthcare will arrive Ikorodu in two weeks time to start work on conversion of refuse to fertiliser.
"They will convert 22 metric tonnes of our waste to fertilizer on a daily basis. Incidentally, we have a waste dump in Ikorodu, close to Odogiyan, which we have allocated to them exclusively," he said.
He gave other efforts in this area as waste to bio-gas, waste to electricity, waste to ethanol and waste to plastic.
"We are already negotiating with firms to handle the different sections. We have signed an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) with a firm which has access to United Nations fund and exploring the possibility of transforming waste at Ojota dumpsite to biogas tin commercial quantity," he said.
Under the arrangement, the firm which would pay some money to the state government, is to mass produce bio-gas and sell to big companies within Ojota.