Rain cause of delay in fixing Lagos roads, says LSPWC

Lagos State Public Works Corporation (LSPWC) has lamented the disruption of its scheduled road maintenance and rehabilitation activities by the continuous down pour being experienced in most parts of the state. 

The General Manager,  Lateef Somide, who spoke on ongoing efforts to make Lagos roads motorable, disclosed that the corporation had been handicapped by the rainfall pattern being experienced in Lagos, due to the fact that road maintenance and rehabilitation operations can only be carried out efficiently under clement weather. 

The LSPWC boss said the current situation is a manifestation of global warming which has caused varied degrees of devastation to countries across the world, and its impact on Lagos roads has been particularly significant due to the high water table nature of the topography in most part of the state. 

This, according to him, makes the usage of hot asphalt which is the major material for road pavement not suitable in wet weather. 

He said: “What we have noticed in the past couple of months is that while waiting for the ground to dry after a particular rainfall so as to address damaged sections of the road, another heavy downpour occurs within a space of two to three days,  despite that, we carefully use weather forecasts in planning our operation, there are many instances where rain falls sooner than our men left the sites, thus compromising the integrity of the work done.’’ 

Somide said the corporation has resolved to use more of interlocking paving stones to fix road defects in order to avoid using asphalt premix that may not stand the test of time due to weather condition.

He listed Egbeda-Idimu, Ikotun-Igando, Ilupeju, Isheri-Olowora, Lateef Jakande, LASU/Iba and Ado Badore (by Church of Ascension) roads which the agency recently fixed.

“Administration of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has remain committed to supporting the corporation in all possible ways but we have to make judicious use of tax payers’ funds by using more of interlocking paving stones, cold mix asphalt and some palliative methods to provide temporary relief in anticipation of clement weather.’’

On some failed sections of roads such as the Ogunnusi Road by Area G. Police Command and a section of Ikotun Egbe road by Ikotun Market, the general manager said such were examples of many situations where his agency couldn’t embark on proper maintenance work due to the fact that major drainage repair work is required for the road to last when fixed.