The Minister of Works, Sen. Dave Umahi, on Monday, directed deployment of 40 youths to the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway to serve as a task force to bring sanity on the road.

The deployment is aimed at tackling vandalism and misuse of the road.

Umahi gave the directive during an inspection tour of the coastal highway in company of some members of the National Assembly and other stakeholders.

“Now, I direct the controller, Lagos, and I am coming back in the next seven days.

“We have directed that we should have 40 young men and women that are going to be deployed to this road.

“Buy 40 machines, motorcycles. Goats and cows are eating up the trees, people are cutting through the metals, people are cutting through the block work, and there is hawking on the road,” he said.

Umahi also noted that commercial motorcyclists were plying the road.

He said that efforts must be intensified to prevent abuse of the highway.

“It is going to be a fight, and the controller, Lagos, has to lead this fight by employing 40 people.

“Twenty will work in the night and the other 20 will walk in the day,” he said.

The minister directed that no commercial motorcyclist should ply the road and no vehicle should park or load on the road.

He also directed that no cow or sheep should be seen on the road, adding that refuse should not be dumped on the highway.

Umahi also prohibited loitering on the coastal road.

On provision of service lanes on the highway, Umahi said it was not the responsibility of the Federal Government.

“It is the responsibility of Lagos State Government because the lanes would lead to estates and will also help to decongest floods, but the President said, ‘Come and look at it and let me know the problems,’” he said.

On Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), the minister said that it was done before commencement of the project.

“Don’t forget that this EIA was subjected to international scrutiny and after the publication, it was done,” he said.

The Head of Department of Environmental Assessment, Mrs Rufikat Odetoro, said that flooding in Lagos was complex and peculiar particularly on coastal communities.

According to her, this is because of high water table and the surge of the Atlantic Ocean.

“The issue of climate change is also critical.

“We are having heavier and more torrential rainfalls, and then, we are having the issue of blocked drainage channels, inadequate planning, development without adequate measures to ensure that the carriage capacity of the environment is not exceeded.”

She also said that EIA was done on the coastal highway project.

“There was an inclusive stakeholder engagement, and robust comments were taken before EIA approval was produced.

“Recommendations were made that we will need to monitor throughout the lifespan of the project.

“That was why we said, ‘Go and put that in a revised document called the final EIA report that will be used to monitor the project throughout all the phases of the key activities,” she said.

The Managing Director of Hitech Construction Company Ltd., Mr Dany Abboud, said that the company had been instructed to clean all culverts and remove all obstacles on them.

“There are some refuse that were kept during the construction period.

“There are some refuse that were dumped by residents and commuters.

“We are going to clean them, and we are going to monitor the situation properly,” he said.

Abboud pledged that Hitech would sort out all the problems. (NAN)

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