Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has declared a state of emergency on waste collection in the state, ordering immediate measures to address the challenges affecting the sector.
Sanwo-Olu, accompanied by his deputy, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, made the declaration during an inspection of the Olusosun dumpsite in Ojota on Wednesday.
The governor also held a meeting with stakeholders in the waste management sector at the dumpsite, where he assessed the challenges affecting municipal waste collection and outlined immediate, medium and long-term solutions.
Sanwo-Olu acknowledged the slow pace of waste collection in different parts of the state, attributing the situation partly to the inability of Private Sector Participation operators to meet their obligations in recent weeks.
He said waste compaction activities were ongoing simultaneously at the Olusosun and Solous 3 dumpsites, adding that the completion of the exercise would facilitate faster waste collection.
The governor said recent fire incidents at the dumpsites had slowed down operations, but added that work had resumed, with contractors working to clear the sites for daily waste disposal.
He explained that the completion of the ongoing projects would enable each of the dumpsites to receive about 450 trucks of municipal waste daily, effectively doubling the capacity of the PSP operators.
Sanwo-Olu said, “In the past couple of weeks, we have seen pressure and slow turnaround in waste collection in different parts of the city. We have seen residents throwing waste indiscriminately at undesignated areas in the city.
“We are here to see what the problem is and for us to be able to declare a state of emergency so that we can take the state out of this unpleasant situation.
“At Olusosun dumpsite, we are planning with our development partners to build a 2,400-metric-tonne transfer loading station that will receive compacted waste which will, in turn, be transported to Material Recovery Facilities being built at the moment.
“We are currently building two transfer loading stations of the same size that will receive over 500 trucks of waste daily. The second transfer loading station is at Solous 3 in Alimosho. We need to open up the road, and that should be ready in two to three weeks.”
The governor said one of the immediate measures being implemented was the stabilisation of access roads to the five dumpsites to facilitate easier access and faster waste collection.
He directed the rehabilitation of access roads to the dumpsites at Ewu Elepe and Oke Oso, adding that the state government had procured 160 modern compactors to boost waste collection.
Sanwo-Olu said development partners working with the Lagos State Waste Management Authority would also provide additional compactors, while the government would procure landfill compactors specifically designed for use at dumpsites.
He said, “The other solution we are throwing into the mix is raising the capacity of the PSP operators. We currently have a number of compactors that are not fit and proper for the size of the city.
“We have ordered 160 modern compactors, and they will start coming in soon. This will immediately increase the capacity of waste collection from the tenements and roads to bring them to the dumpsites.
“The PSP operators’ leadership has also appreciated the solutions we are proposing, and they are working with us to ensure these solutions work.
“The PSP operators have pledged to reassess their own operations and purge themselves of unserious players in the business. They are willing to take only operators who have the capacity, knowledge and willingness to make additional investments in the business.
“We don’t want to have a situation where we will have 800 PSP operators for a job that can only be done by 400 operators.”
The governor added that the PSP operators had assured the government that they would also procure additional trucks for their members as the government increased its fleet of compactors.
He said the state government would work with the operators to de-risk the financing of the investments and prevent them from going bankrupt.
Sanwo-Olu identified the construction of transfer loading stations and Material Recovery Facilities as part of the medium- to long-term measures to address waste management challenges in the state.
He said Lagos residents would begin to see physical infrastructure being developed at the transfer loading stations and Material Recovery Facilities before the end of the year, although the facilities were not expected to be completed until the first quarter of next year.
“We are building two Material Recovery Facilities. One of them is in Oke Oso, Epe; the other is at Erekiti in Badagry.
“The plan is, if the transfer loading stations are open, waste disposal will be rapid, and from there, we can transfer the compacted waste to recovery stations for further sorting and recycling.
“This is a medium- to long-term plan which, we believe, will come up by the second quarter of next year,” he said.
Sanwo-Olu also read the riot act to residents who dump waste indiscriminately in unauthorised areas, directing the immediate prosecution of offenders caught in the act.
The governor also criticised the inefficient supervision of waste management operations by officials, disclosing that the Lagos State Waste Management Authority would undergo organisational reforms to improve its efficiency.
Source: punchng.com
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