The Lagos State Infrastructure Maintenance and Regulatory Agency (LASIMRA) says it is poised to turn Lagos into a megacity that will compete favourably with others across the world.
Its General Manager, Mr Olufunsho Elulade, said that the agency would achieve the feat through control and regulatory measures and the skills of its professionals.
Elulade who also doubles as the Chief Executive Officer {CEO} of the agency said that the agency also was doing necessary checks, monitoring and establishing models.
He said these efforts were to ensure that its operations become holistic.
Elulade told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos that the city/state was aiming at measuring itself against the world best mega cities in the world through infrastructure development.
“LASIMRA has set to operate on a global standard format toward ensuring that Lagos attains a functional megacity status through infrastructure development.
“We are taking a lot of measures, doing lots of checks, monitoring and establishing lots of models to make sure that the system is holistic.
“We are calling on all stakeholders with land excavation within the geographical boundaries to, henceforth, register such with LASIMRA.’’
The GM said that if anyone wanted to install a mast or a tower, he or she must follow the regulations of the Nigerian Communications Commission {NCC}.
He said that the regulations stipulated that there must be a building setback of between five metres and 10 metres before erecting a mast or a tower.
He said that the agency would begin to monitor the level of compliance with such a regulation by the public.
“We need to check the foundations of towers and masts before they are erected because they are of different heights.’’
He said that this is because some of them would either be 25metres, 45 meters or 75meters in height.
He said that the agency would check that the foundation proposed by those going to erect a mast or a tower would be able to hold it firmly to the ground before its giving approval.
“Because they are slender and tall, the lankiness of the structures must also be taking into consideration while constructing the foundations so that they will not fall under wind load.
“To guard against such, we will make sure that the agency is responsible for the supervision, checking contraveners, enforcing the laws and regulations.
“As a regulator, if you ask us any question we will know what is happening anywhere in Lagos State’’, Olulade said.
He added that LASIMRA had established three satellite offices that would take care of Ikorodu, Epe and Badagry areas.
“Each of the satellite offices will cater for the outskirts of Lagos metropolis; and by the time we harness all our efforts, we will have covered the whole state,’’ he said.
The agency’s chief executive also said that LASIMRA would also be a service delivery agency that would give an enabling environment to stakeholders for ease of doing their businesses in Lagos State.
“That is why we cannot over tax the people, but we are going to indicate that the tariffs being paid by our customers will change.
“The tax they are currently paying is what they had been paying since 2004.
“We are measuring performance against world best practice, that is, what is obtainable in other countries must be obtainable in Lagos.
“We will be going all over the geographical boundaries of Lagos at nights and weekends, making sure that people adhere strictly to the government’s laws.’’
The agency’s boss also said that it would make sure that all necessary parameters were followed by the public and, in particular, their clients.
“We have introduced submissions that must be complied with by companies that wanted to work around where we have our infrastructure.
“It is after such submissions had been made by them that we will grant anybody permitted to tamper with any part of our roads.
“In the past, people used to collect permits after which they would start digging and creating menace on the road.
“But now, they need to give LASIMRA a comprehensive traffic management plan.
“The plan also must state when they want to start work and how such will not disturb road users,’’ Olulade said.
He also said that the agency would introduce the Horizontal Directional Digging (HDD) which will help companies to dig the ground.
“With the HDD, you do not need to break the ground again; that is the machine that does it,’’ he said.
The LASIMRA boss said that the agency had begun to benchmark itself against similar companies from the developed world where such facilities could be found. (NAN)
