By Giwa SHILE
The Majority Leader, House of Representatives, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, on Saturday assured the residents of Surulere of an end to flooding at the completion of the erosion project in the constituency.
Gbajabiamila gave the assurance at the flag off of the Ecological and Gully Erosion Control project in Surulere Federal Constituency in Lagos.
“I can assure you all that very soon, at the completion of this project, the issue of flood will not occur in Surulere again,’’ he said.
He recalled that 2017 flooding affected many homes and destroyed property worth millions of Naira.
He also said a letter was written to the Ecological Fund Office in the Presidency, then requesting for urgent intervention to the ecological threat which was fast deteriorating roads in Surulere and endangering the safety of human lives and property.
Gbajabiamila said attached to the letter were pictures of the affected areas which included Ojuelegba, Randle, Bank Olemoh, Ekololu, Olufemi, Alaka Estate and Eric Moore and its environs.
He said the government sent in engineers for verification of the complaints and confirmed that the mentioned locations were in serious ecological problems.
The engineers enumerated the encountered problems to include flooding, inappropriate drainage works, lack of adherence to town planning laws and de-silting of the existing canals.
He said to arrest the existing problems, the Federal Government recommended that the following measures, including the construction of drains, de-silting of canals and evacuation of the canal waste to locations outside Surulere to avoid another blockage.
“This project is massive, as a result of the project analysis, the Federal Government is focusing on the canal challenges from the rail line crossing Tejuosho, Ojuelegba, Alhaji Masha and Census area.
“The rains are here again, and we must give all support needed to the site engineers so that we can conclude this project before the time given to us by the contractors,’’ Gbajabiamila said.
He called on the local governments, community development committees and residents associations to increase work on the drainage system carried out in various areas in Surulere and also increase sensitisation on the projects.
Gbajabiamila promised that the second phase of the project would commence by the end of this year.
Mr idris Adeoye, Managing Director of the construction company handling the project, said that the scope was dredging and channelisation of Kosafejo canal in Surulere, awarded by the Ecological Office in the presidency.
Adeoye said the duration for the project was nine months, adding that “we are looking at the ways we can compress our work even working at weekends to finish on time.
“We are going to dredge the canal and do the concrete work to complete the projects scope,’’ he said.
