N200m resettlement package for occupants as govt regenerates Ijora dumpsite

In a rare demonstration of concern and commitment to assist, the Lagos State has approved N200 million resettlement package for the former occupants of a dumpsite in Ijora Badia which is being regenerated into blocks of flats promising 1008 units.

Babatunde Fashola, the governor of the state, who disclosed this during an inspection of the site recently, also revealed that provisions had been made for each of the former occupants to bring their names and account details so that issues of mix-up would not arise, advising that  those involved should contact the office of the Attorney General of the state who is in charge of disbursing the funds.

The governor assured that  the first set of buildings at the site would come up in a few months, disclosing that much of the components of the buildings were being done off-site in line with the new approach to construction developed by local intellectuals like the director of the building firm, Olumide Olusanya, a professor.

“Today, the construction technology has changed. The drain is constructed off site, they bring the mechanical shovels, excavate, put the drains in and your road is almost half done. It is the same way we have approached this housing project”, he said.

“Let us start to do something that is made in Nigeria with a technology that is our own; you will see that over the years, we have imported all sorts of technology system including building materials and if you do one estate, it can’t do the other”, he added.

He noted that there is not a lot of work taking place on site because  much is going on off-site, pointing out that the form work which the Professor was explaining makes four blocks in one vibration sequence instead of one block; makes the block with the conduit already laid inside  so that the electrical fittings and the conduit pipes could be installed at the time that the blocks are being laid.

He added that this would prevent a situation where are cracked after construction for wiring,  saying it means a lot of time would be gained in addition to efficiency which leads to cost-saving as materials are used optimally while the quality is not compromised.

“In the next few months as we have been told, the first buildings will be on this site but the work is being done mentally and technologically off-site so that when they deploy them, everything goes on smoothly”, he assured.

According to him, the benefits from such an approach are quite many, noting that as the building director explained, traditionally it takes about one person a day to lay about 100 blocks,  but with this system,  a thousand blocks could be done a day, gaining 10 times efficiency.