Fashola Commissions Transfer Loading Station

Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State has commissioned the Oshodi Transfer Loading Station, TLS, the first in West Africa, where waste will be recycled into useful end-products.

Commissioning the station on Thursday in Oshodi, Lagos, South West Nigeria, Fashola said government’s strategy was to clean up Lagos and manage waste disposal more effectively by using Transfer Loading Stations to contain the waste in the area of its generation and move them at night to prevent the trucks being caught in traffic.

“We have delivered on this promise. We have finished the Simpson Transfer Loading Station and put it to use over two years ago.

“Even as the Simpson Transfer Loading Station continues to attract visitors from within and outside the country, we are handing over today the Oshodi Transfer Loading Station, into which we have incorporated a Medical Waste Treatment Plant to deal with waste that have hitherto constituted a health hazard to our people,” he said.

“Our work in this plant is not finished as we will be encouraging investments in specialised medical waste trucks, like our PSP trucks, which will be collecting medical waste from our various hospitals and health facilities for delivery to this site and proper disposal,” added Fashola.

According to Fashola, “When we decided to clean up Oshodi, the investment in this Transfer Loading Station was one of the many reasons apart from security, the need to build the rail track to ease transportation and the desire to improve the image of our state and our country.

“The missing link in the regeneration and transformation of Oshodi, which is a strategic gateway into our country are the Apapa-Oshodi-Oworonshoki Expressway and the road to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport which are highly in deplorable conditions.”

Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello disclosed that the Oshodi TLS was the second in the series of 20 proposed by this administration and that it was an improvement on the first TLS at Ilubirin, in the sense that it came with a medical waste treatment facility.

He said the location of the TLS was meant to improve waste collection efficiency from the point of generation within the catchment areas of Okota, Isolo, Mushin, Anthony, Mafoluku, Mile 2, Amuwo-Odofin, Ilupeju up to Aguda and Surulere.

In addidtion, the commissioner stated that the strategic location would allow the waste generated in the area to be deposited and warehoused before transfer to a final dumpsite or landfill at off-peak hours when the volume of traffic was reduced.

“This measure would reduce the vehicular traffic to the landfill site, hence, attaining another major milestone in our effort at reducing our carbon footprint and mitigating the effect of climate change.

“The Hydroclave medical treatment plant included on this site is a process made up of a shredder, a high temperature sterilising unit which is wholly automatic. The Hydroclave equipment has a low operating cost, is easy to operate, reduces waste by 80 percent with no odour and is environment friendly.

The Managing Director, Lagos Waste Management Authority, LAWMA, Mr. Ola Oresanya said the project encompassed the installation of healthcare waste treatment equipment which had a combined capacity to treat a metric tonnes of healthcare waste per day.

“The facility derived its concept from the holistic approach for the implementation of waste management strategy plan for Lagos mega city. The strategic plan proposed a total of 20 Transfer Loading Stations for Lagos State within the next 10 years.

—Kazeem Ugbodaga, Paul Sanusi