Lagos State Government has called for quick completion of the ongoing expansion of the drainage culvert on the Lagos- Abeokuta Expressway, to assist in decongesting the expressway and its environs.
Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Mr. Tunji Bello, in a statement yesterday, said the drainage expansion work under construction was to widen the old culvert, which is inadequate to contain the force of water that flows through it.
According to him, the ongoing road rehabilitation works by Julius Berger Nigeria Limited for the Federal Government involves the necessary expansion of the old culvert underneath the expressway, which was inadequate to contain storm water runoff from the catchments.
He said that the expansion work would enable rainwater to flow easily and freely into the collector drain at the downstream of the culvert without any obstruction.
He said: “This singular measure, when undertaken, will take all the rain water such as the one that flooded the Expressway on Sunday into the 2.0 metres by 1.5metres Collector that eventually discharges into the Akinola River.
“The State Government also intends to increase the capacity of the existing collector at the downstream of the culvert to 5.0 meters by 1.5meters in size early next year.”
On similar work on Akowonjo road, Bello said the contractors are ready to advance to the next phase of work once they get approval for traffic diversion from the Ministry of Transportation.
“The Contractor is about to move to the critical stage of cutting Akowonjo Road by Vulcaniser Bus Stop to link the drain on Jimoh Akinremi Street.
“When approval for traffic diversion is obtained from the Ministry of Transportation, the Contractor will complete this phase of the project by cutting the road and laying the concrete sections over the weekend, working day and night to reduce the burden on the road users at the peak period during the week.
“The existing drain on Jimoh Akinremi is stagnant and presently floods Akowonjo Road and must be opened up to run across Akowonjo Road into the already constructed collector, which discharges into the Airport via Shasha road conduit,” he added.
While stressing that Lagos is a coastal city and flash flood experience is only normal, the commissioner assured that government would ensure that all drainage channels are cleaned up and maintained on a regular basis to ensure free flow of water whenever it rains.
