Lagos Secures $100m from French Agency for Urban Projects

• Begins securing right of way for Alapere road expansion

Gboyega Akinsanmi

The Lagos State Government has secured a whopping sum of $100 million from a French financial institution, Agence Française de Développement (AFD) to implement its strategic integrated urban development projects tagged Eko Urban Project (EKO-UP).

Consistent with its urban renewal programmes specifically designed to provide strategic infrastructure projects and unlock traffic congestion in the metropolis, the state government has secured right of way for the expansion of Alapere-Agboyi-Ketu road.

The Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mr. Akinyemi Ashade disclosed the N100 million credit facility in the text of a news conference he recently presented at the Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre, Alausa, noting that the urban projects “are already on-going.”
Ashade noted that the Federal Executive Council approved a credit facility of $100 million for integrated urban development projects referred to as Eko Urban Project from the AFD.

In February 2015, the commissioner added that the facility agreement was signed by the AFD and the Federal Ministry of Finance on behalf of the state government.
He said the slum upgrading programme “is being coordinated by the Lagos State Urban Renewal Authority in Ifelodun and Bariga LCDAs. Proposed investments include the construction of drainage infrastructure, roads, street lighting, schools and public health care centres.”

In Ifelodun LCDA, the commissioner said the state government proposed to construct a detention basin, implying the resettlement and compensation of 2,260 persons in the area.
He said part of the credit facility would be used “to enhance the management and treatment of solid waste in Lagos State. A sum of $53 million has been earmarked for the construction of new waste management infrastructure that will be managed by the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA).”

He said proposed investments included the reclamation of an open dump in a suitable location within the state and construction of a new sanitary land fill company with international sanitary and environmental standards including a biogas collection system.

On the road expansion, the Commissioner and Urban Development, Mr. Abiola Anifowoshe said the state government had already secure right of way of Alapere-Agboyi-Ketu road in line with its policy to provide more infrastructure to free traffic along the axis.

He explained that the project “is a four-lane road with 18.6m width inclusive of a carriageway. It will see to the development of Oluwakemi and Ajiboye Streets with ingress into streets from Alapere to Agboyi. It will channel traffic from Alapere to Agboyi and Ikorodu area.”

He said the owners of affected structures had been engaged and notified and offered opportunity “to remove their wares and salvage their property before demolition would take off.
“We run an inclusive government. We cannot embark on any removal of structures without convening a stakeholders’ meeting with the affected people and communities. We met stakeholders recently. Interestingly, they embraced the idea which led to this development.

“We know what it takes to put up a structure so we have planned this project and pledged minimal removal. It is all in the overriding public interest and the economic growth and development of the community and Lagos State as a whole,” he explained.