Amidst the economic recession and dwindling financial resources occasioned by the COVID 19 pandemic, Lagos State government has declared readiness to partner with the organised private sector for sustainable road infrastructure in the state.
Aramide Adeyoye, Special Adviser to the Governor on Works and Infrastructure, disclosed this while addressing members of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) who paid a courtesy visit to her office on Wednesday.
Adeyoye said that there was a new ray of hope for companies coming into Public Infrastructure Improvement Partnership (PIIP) with the government.
Maintaining that Lagos State was deliberately promoting its performance index on the Ease of Doing Business metrix, she said that the invitation extended to the organised private sector to collaborate with the government on infrastructural development could only end up in a win-win situation for the collaborators.
Adeyoye also alluded to the fact that presently, road rehabilitation and maintenance is grossly underfunded and the only option available to the government is to create extra budgetary funding for the maintenance of roads.
She, however, lauded Zenith and Access Banks for their collaborative efforts in the area of Public Infrastructure Improvement Partnership.
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Adeyoye said that MAN needs to take bold steps to encourage members to partner with the government, adding that there are concessions such as tax holidays and branding and advertisement concessions attached to such partnerships.
In a similar vein, the Permanent Secretary, Works and Infrastructure, Olujimi Hotonou, said the government could not provide the entire infrastructure all alone.
He advised that companies could come under the umbrella of PIIP to maintain and rehabilitate existing infrastructure so that the government could concentrate more on the provision of new roads.
Also, General Manager, Lagos State Material Testing Laboratory, Dr. Abiodun Afolabi, said his agency was well equipped to carry out various quality assurance tests and has zero-tolerance for building collapse.
He reiterated that Lagos State Material Testing Laboratory is operating within the ambit of its ministerial responsibilities.
Earlier, Executive Secretary of Ikeja branch of Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria, Oluchi Odimuko, had commended the state government for daily upload of construction work schedule in the state.
