Fashola sees Sogunro Estate houses as model for LagosHOM scheme

Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola, has said that the structures being constructed at the Lagos Home Ownership Mortgage Scheme (LagosHOMs) Estate I & II in Sogunro, Ogba, are the kind of houses the state wants for the mortgage scheme and its people.

The governor, who made this observation during an inspection tour of the estate, explained that the type of housing for the scheme were such that would be “safe and secure against wind, against rain, against sunshine and houses that won’t collapse”.

Conducted round some of the structures by the managing director of the Lagos State Development and Property Corporation (LSDPC), Biodun Oki, Fashola noted that the quality of the houses was good, urging contractors on the project to expedite action in order to ensure timely delivery.

The governor, who was quite impressed by the speed of work on the project, appealed for action, saying, “This is time for nation-building; everybody including the contractor is a leader now. We have work to do and, therefore, we cannot afford to lie at ease. If it requires us to come here on Sunday, if it requires us to come here at night, so must it be. The Chinese don’t observe Sunday and they are already ahead of us and so if we really want to catch up, we just have to change the game.”

Continuing, he said the idea of people working until Friday, “even when we are building houses for ourselves”, and closing and going to rest until Monday wasn’t the best. “I am not sure we can afford the indulgence of rest now; we are behind. So, I just want to make that appeal now, and if they must come to work at night, if they must come to work on Sunday, please so be it,” he added.

The governor called for concerted efforts to ensure that construction work is concluded on the Sogunro site so that workers could move on to other sites that are waiting to be started, stressing that “the longer we stay here, the more difficult it would be because we are not going to award projects now to contractors who have not finished their job”.

“Our focus is on finishing projects, and that constraints what we can start, and so, if ministries don’t finish and contractors don’t finish their job, they don’t start new work,” he said.

The governor had earlier inspected on-going channelization work on Wempco Road and was received by officials of the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) led by its managing director, Dayo Mobereola.

The extensive channelization work is aimed to de-flood Ogba environs and discharge to the Omole gorge. About 70 percent work has been done on the channelization which is 9.3 metres deep. It is expected that the project will serve as a concrete solution to de-flood areas like Iju, Agege-Pen Cinema and Mobil areas in Ogba. Going alongside the channelization is the Wempco road construction which would have separate bicycle lanes and walkways.