‘Choice of roads to construct, rehabilitate hinged on ability to ease water flow’

Contrary to popular insinuation that Lagos state government is selective or favours highbrow areas in its choice of roads to reconstruct or rehabilitate at the expense of inner roads, verifiable evidence reveals that the coastal nature of the state determines which section of its roads should be reconstructed or rehabilitated first while others are attended to subsequently.

Obafemi Hamzat, the state Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, who made this revelation, explained that as a city which is relatively below sea level, the decision to provide road infrastructure in any area is always hinged on the ability of such road to ease water flow within the city.

Hamzat further explained that the constant rehabilitation of the highways is only a calculated attempt to ensure that roads with higher traffic flow which are also closer to the canals are always in good shape to ease water flow and consequently abate possible flooding in the city.

“As a coastal city below sea level, for us, it is not just about providing good road networks to ease traffic flow but building roads that can ease water flow within the city, else if the city is flooded, the infrastructure will be destroyed,” he explained, assuring that inner roads within the mainland will be given facelift in due course.

Omotayo Bamgbose-Martins, permanent secretary at the  Ministry of Works, affirmed, pointing out that  the state was eager to extend its road project to every nook and cranny of the metropolis.

Martins who spoke Lagos state during a tour of some road project sites recently listed some of the inner roads as Ijeh road in Lagos Island, a 2.3km road that links Dolphin Estate to Obalende, a 2km Igbokosun road in Lekki which, he said, would  get a palliative measure by year end.

Hamzat also explained that the provision of palliative measure does not amount to wasting of resources but rather help ease construction process in the future. “What we do when we provide palliative is to  remove the bad soil and replace it with good soil, provide some structures that will consequently ease the construction process during the main construction,” he explained.

ODINAKA MBONU