Lagos reopens dumpsite, tasks PSP operators on efficiency

Detailed summary

The Lagos State Government has reopened the Solus II dumpsite in Igando and issued a fresh ultimatum to PSP operators to improve refuse collection services Read More:…

The Lagos State Government has given Private Sector Participation (PSP) waste operators a fresh ultimatum to improve refuse collection across the state following the emergency rehabilitation and reopening of the Solus II dumpsite in the Igando area.

The government said it had fulfilled its part of the agreement by restoring the facility and repairing access roads, warning operators that they had no further excuses for failing to evacuate waste from residential areas.

The Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, gave the warning on Wednesday during an inspection of the previously shut dumpsite in the Alimosho Local Government Area.

Wahab said the reopening of the facility was part of efforts to address the lingering refuse crisis, particularly in Lagos West, and challenged PSP operators to match the government’s intervention with improved service delivery.

“Too much is given, so much more is expected. There is no more excuse,” he said, emphasising his message to the PSP leadership.

He added, “The state government has done its own bit; let your PSP members also put their skin in it and see how they can achieve what we set out jointly to achieve, because they suggested we put this into play and now, we’ve done it for them.”

The commissioner explained that the decision to rehabilitate Solus followed suggestions by the operators, who preferred reopening the facility to wait for new dumpsites to be established around Badagry and Epe.

Wahab said the repaired access road was expected to last at least one year, with quarterly maintenance planned, while the dumpsite would receive a minimum of 100 trucks daily.

“One hundred trucks from this axis coming here to discharge give us the comfort that our streets and our homes will not be littered with waste,” he said.

Opening of the article, excerpted from Punch. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.