PROPERTY NEWS

In order to properly monitor and control physical development activities along the Lagos shoreline, the Lagos State Government has initiated a number of waterfront schemes, which it hopes will engender orderly development.

Among the schemes initiated by the Ministry of Waterfront Infrastructure Development are the Amuwo Odofin and Oku Ajah waterfront schemes, which have already received the approval of the government.

While the proposal for the preparation of district plans in respect of the development of the Lagoon Island , Forershore and Marinas has been forwarded to the state Executive Council for approval, together with the proposal for the award of contract for the survey works of the phases one and two of the Oku Ajah Waterfront Scheme.

Similarly, the proposal for the creation of a waterfront scheme in Topo Coral Island in Badagry is currently being processed, while the proposal for the creation of the Sapphire Waterfront Scheme in Agboyi-Ketu, Kosofe Local Government area is in progress.

According to the Commissioner for Waterfront Infrastructure Development, Prince Adesegun Oniru, the conception of the Ibeshe Waterfront Scheme in Ikorodu area and the Whedako and Gberefu schemes in Badagry are all being processed.

The commissioner also disclosed that the ministry had proposed the development of infrastructural facilities at the Oyinkan Abayomi Drive waterfront, Ikoyi. The facilities to be provided at the site include shoreline protection against surge, recreational facilities and jetties.

Oniru said that in order to control dredging, reclamation and sand filling activities, the ministry had issued approval for 15 firms with dredging machines out of the 193 that applied to harvest sand in a controlled manner and sell to developers, instead of the present situation whereby illegal sand miners were having a field day.

Giving account of the ministry‘s monitoring of ecological disasters on the state‘s waterfront, the commissioner said that four major cases had been identified, including the shipwreck at Olomometa in Ojo Local Government Area, which had altered a lot of natural processes on the beachfront in the past 12 years.

Others include the several abandoned shipwrecks on the Lagos and Badagry marinas, and the Akarakumo degradation by illegal sand diggers in Badagry.