30th July, 2012
The Lagos State Government says it will need N12 billion to regenerate the Apapa Central Business District, CBD, after several years of neglect by the Federal Government.
Commissioner for the Environment, Tunji Bello, who toured the CBD at the weekend with other government officials lamented the decay in Apapa, saying it would cost the government that much to regenerate the area.
He said the government planned to restore business activities in the area as well as address environmental degradation caused by illegal activities of oil companies and trailer drivers.
According to Bello, the extent of damage on the CBD by oil companies and trailers was to severe that it would take nothing less N12 billion to put the infrastructure back to how it was.
“At the last calculation, the cost was over N12 billion. Then, we need to rehabilitate the drainage system and the roads which have also collapsed. To reconstruct the road from Marine Beach to Apapa, we need a minimum of N6 billion.
“To landscape the entire place, it is going to cost over N2 billion. We have to install street lights. We have asked the Federal Government to assist, but we are yet to receive their response on the issue. So far, the Federal Government has not contributed their quota.
“Since we completed the removal of the shanties, the state government has been the only government involved in the sustainability of Apapa regeneration,” he stated.
“The state government did the clearing alone, and it cost N100 million to clear all the shanties, remove abandoned vehicles and others from Marine Beach and other areas.
“We have completely cleared the place. And today, it is very easy for one to drive through Apapa,” he added.
Bello further decried many failed promises made by the Federal Government to address diverse issues of environmental degradation and ocean surge in the state.
He stated that the Federal Government promised in 2011 to address the disturbing ocean surge at Alfa Beach, an incident which he said had almost wiped out a community called Okun Alfa bordering the Atlantic Ocean in the eastern part of the state.
—Kazeem Ugbodaga