LAWMA Acquires 100 Tana Compactor TrucksLAWMA Acquires 100 Tana Compactor Trucks
Stories By RAJI ADEBAYO
The Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) has acquired 100 Tana Compactor Trucks as part of the authority's strategy to effectively manage the refuse at the dump site during this rainy season.
This was disclosed by the Public Relations Officer of the authority, Mrs Folashade Kadiri, while speaking with the National Mirror on the efforts of the LAWMA to provide conducive working atmosphere for the private sector participation (PSP) during this season.
According to her, the Tana compactor will effectively compress and compact the waste at the land full site in order to facilitate easy accessibility for the PSP operators to move in and out of the dumping site which for sometimes now has been herculean task when bulldozer was in use.
“If you get to Olusosun site now, the kind of mountain of refuse which has piled up because of the rain that is hampering the easy access to the site is no more there as the Tana compactors have compressed and compact them. The issue of PSP operators been waiting for two or three days before dumping of their refuse is now the story of the past.”
She maintained that part of the strategies by the authority to make the city of Lagos to be one of the cleanest in the world is the engagement of the night and early morning sweepers because negligence could cause serious blockage to the drainage channel.
Also the state government has directed all the local governments to employ street sweepers to engage in the service of sweeping inner streets because there is no point in sweeping only highways in the sense that the refuse or sand from the inner streets will eventually come into the highway which will render the efforts of the authority futile, she stressed.
Kadiri also disclosed that the LAWMA is partnering with foreign company from Alabama in United States of America to access the location of transfer loading station which is called “stop in the gap” land full as an alternative to Olusosun, Odongunyan and other legal dumping site in the state.
There is need to carry out lots of assessment and feasibility study such as test to locate underground water to ensure that even if “stop in gap” is located somewhere it will not contaminate the underground water for the safety and hygienic of the people living in such environment.
The PRO also disclosed that apart from the provision of “Stop in gap” land full, the authority is holding series of meetings with the Community Development Association (CDA) Executive to fashion out strategy on proper management of their refuse because the activities of the LAWMA is more or loss grossroots programmes.
Directive has also been given to PSP operators to acquire compactor trucks for effective management of waste, though the deadline for this was June, this year but the authority has extended it to afford them more time to acquire it. This is not that we are trying to face out ordinary truck but to move a step further for proper management of the refuse.”
Kadiri explained that there are still some areas within Lagos State that is not accessible to compactor truck, hence, these areas will still continue with the ordinary trucks as a means of evacuating refuse in those areas rather than patronising cart pushers.
She maintained that the challenge facing the authority is how to change the orientation of the people to imbibe the culture of containerization because most of the Lagosians do not know how to manage their waste.
The PRO explained that the indiscriminate dumping of refuse posed a serious task to the authority as it had to evacuate all the illegal dumping sites such as the conversion of the open spaces into dumping sites which were inherited by the authority to ensure environmental sanitation and make it conducive for the people to live.
Part of the illegal dumping sites evacuated by the authority including Obaogunji, Ebele Oniwahala and Cele area which are safer and hygienic for the people of the areas to live a better and safer lives.
She noted that the resultant effect of the various business activities and influx of people into the state on a daily basis resulted to the huge waste generation being witnessed in the state which the officials of the LAWMA is ever ready to clear, but warning Lagosians against indiscriminate during of refuse as this act will no longer be tolerated by the authority.
Kadiri enjoined the residence of Lagos to join hands with the authority and other related agencies to move environmental sanitation in the state to the next level as the cooperation will go a long way to minimize refuse generated from human activities.
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