The Federal and Lagos State governments Thursday insisted that less than 800 houses might be demolished to pave way for the construction of the much-publicized 37’kilometer Fourth Mainland Bridge project, saying that a lot of efforts had been carried out to reduce the number of affected houses from about 9000 to less than 800.
This was even as the Lagos State government assured that affected property owners would be adequately compensated in inspite of the prevailing economy circumstances, saying all the concerned stakeholders would be satisfactorily considered in the execution of the project.
Speaking at the Environmental Social Impact Assessment stakeholders scoping workshop with Federal Ministry of Environment, Fourth Mainland Bridge, the Minister of of Environment, Mamoud Abubakar, who was represented by a Director from the Ministry, James Kolawole, said there should be sincere commitment on the part of Lagos State government on the compensation on the means of livelihood to be affected.
He said that project would have about 16 alignments but the best alignment had been selected, saying that the government had done everything possible to minimize the negative impacts of the project on the people and the environment. “There was an alignment that will affect about 9000 structures along the corridor but we have reviewed it and gone for the alignment that will affect about 795 houses instead of the one that will take more houses. It is an ongoing thing on how best to minimize the negative impact,” Kolowole said.
He said the fourth Mainland Bridge project is about the people and long overdue as it will boost economic growth and enhance international trade, adding that there was need to take cognisance of both positive and negative impacts of Fourth Mainland bridge on stakeholders to ensure that all the knotty and technical issues are addressed in order not to compromise the future of coming generation.
Speaking on the multi-million naira project, the State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, said that the bridge which will connect Lagos and Ogun State would link through the Abraham Adesanya in Lagos and Sparklight Estate near the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway in Ogun State.
– New Telegraph