The Nation Newspaper

Category: Building & Properties

  • Lagos revs waste collection with TLS

    Lagos revs waste collection with TLS

    •Firm injects N18b in first phase

    VIsionscape Sanitation Solutions (VSS) has inaugurated the Tapa Transfer Loading Station (TLS) in Lagos.

    The facility located on Saviour’s Street, Epetedo area of Lagos Island, will serve as one of the many hubs strategically located throughout the state that will enable Visionscape deposit waste from the city limits to the landfills after processing.

    The Tapa TLS is the first completed TLS by the firm.The company is renovating other stations in Mushin, Agege and Oshodi to provide integrated waste management solutions for treating municipal solid waste and wastewater under the Cleaner Lagos Initiative. In the first phase of the CLI, the firm   invested $50 million (N18.05 billion).

    “Transfer Loading Stations are the unsung heroes in the waste management supply-chain; they’re fundamental in driving efficiency into waste collection and transportation services. The TLS will serve as the middleman between waste collection vehicles and the final disposal facilities,” the Chief Operating Officer (COO), Visionscape, Mr. Thomas Forgacs, said.

    During a tour of the facility, VSS assured Lagos residents of the timely collection and disposal of the tonnes of domestic solid waste generated daily in the state. The transfer stations will receive 6,700 tons of waste daily. The facilities will feature a central tipping bay, a waste reception bay, administrative buildings and waste processing bay.

    The company has also taken delivery of a consignment of a fleet of 100 brand new waste management vehicles embedded with cutting-edge technology.

    “The addition to the waste management fleet is in line with our commitment to provide integrated waste management services, using state-of-the-art equipment and innovative solutions to help transform megacities. In the last six months, we have surveyed all of Lagos State and collated vital data to aid operations. We, therefore, understand population density of the communities and areas that will be serviced, even up to the number of streets and households across the State. This preliminary assessment has aided us to know the amount of waste that will be generated in any particular location,” Forgacs said.

    SWM Integrated Solutions Executive Director, Mrs. Tolagbe Martins, explained that the promoters had been engaged in cleaning about 1,000 black spots within the metropolis and carted away 80,000 tons of refuse, with the deployment of 600 galvanised waste bins.

    Besides, VSS, she said, would be deploying more 3,000 galvanised waste bins to parts of the state next week, and that in two months, the body was expected to deploy 20,000 galvanised waste bins across the state.

    Also to be deployed is one million plastic bins across the state, including sweepers to various parts of the state as from next.

    “The Cleaner Lagos Initiative is creating an enabling environment. Before now, there was only a focus on disposal and no system to support the waste beyond collection. The collection is the beginning of the cycle, and the CLI is providing a world class sanitation structure that includes mechanised sweeping by trained community sanitation workers; transfer loading stations; sorting and recycling; innovative waste bins; regular waste collection and more. We are pleased to inform you that the work which has been going on over the past 15 months is rolling out now,” Tolagbe said.

    The Ministry of the Environment Permanent Secretary, Mr. Abiodun Bamgboye, said the firm has shown “commitment to developing and implementing advanced processes in solid waste and wastewater management operations with an innovative approach. Their state-of-the-art TLS’s will be a game changer in our sector”.

    The CLI was established to address, enforce and regulate the challenges in the solid waste management systems within Lagos. The initiative is focused on improving the environment to make it cleaner, safer and healthier for Lagos residents, as well as developing efficiency.

    Visionscape is in a public-private partnership with the government, set to provide management services for the CLI, under the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA).

     

  • Fed Govt tackles reduction of mercury use

    The Federal Government is set to develop a National Action Plan (NAP) to reduce mercury use, Ministry of Mines and Steel Development Permanent Secretary, Dr Abdukadir Muazu, has said.
    He made this known at a workshop on National Comprehensive Analysis of Artisanal and Small Scale Gold Mining Sector in Abuja.
    The event was aimed at supporting the National Action Plan for Reduction of Mercury Use/Emission in Nigeria.
    According to Muazu, the Ministries of Environment, and Mines and Steel Development and other stakeholders are working to eliminate the use of mercury by artisanal miners across the country.
    He said mercury was used by Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining (ASGM) to extract gold from gold ore, adding that the process exposes them to mercury poisoning and also pollute the environment.
    Muazu said artisanal and small scale gold mining was practised in over seven states – Zamfara, Kebbi, Katsina, Kaduna, Niger, Kwara and Osun- and the Federal Capaital Territory(FCT).
    “It is, therefore, safe to say that Nigeria has more than insignificant use of mercury in (ASGM) operations,’’ he said.
    He said the training and ASGM assessment project would improve national capacity and capability for the management of the mercury in the ASGM sector.
    The Regional Director and Country Representative for Nigeria and ECOWAS, UNIDO Regional Hub Nigeria, Mr Jean Bakole, said artisanal and small scale gold mining was responsible for 37 per cent of the anthropogenic emission and releases of mercury into the environment.
    Bakole, represented by Mr. Yomi Banjo, an environment expert with UNIDO, said the organisation has a history of working in the ASGM sector around the world and was implementing National Action Plan projects in several African countries.
    “Our long-standing cooperation with the Nigeria government to improve industrialisation and safeguard the environment is receiving another boost today.’’
    He congratulated the ministry for the sustainable structure put on ground for the sector, adding that UNIDO would support the ministry to achieve its goals.
    The Artisanal and Small-scale Mining Director of the Mines and Steel Development mnistry, Mr. Patrick Ojeka, disclosed that Nigeria became a signatory to the Minimata Convention on October 10, 2013 through the Ministry of Environment.
    Ojeka said the ministry had been coordinating the activities preparatory to developing the country’s national action plan for the reduction of mercury use in Nigeria.
    He said the treaty required member countries to carry out activities to reduce in the use of mercury.
    He said the workshop was aimed at building capacity in the ministry’s technical enumeration team such as MDAs, NGOs, Miners Association of Nigeria and other related stakeholders in specific special enumeration skills.

  • House prices ‘to fall in London’

    House prices in London and the southeast will fall next year as the cautious mood that has gripped the property market in recent months continues into 2018, the body that represents surveyors and valuers has predicted.

    The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said lower prices were rippling out from central London and would spread to the capital’s outer suburbs and the home counties in the months ahead.

    In a reversal of the UK’s traditional north-south pattern, RICS said only higher prices in areas where houses are more affordable – Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and northwest England – would prevent a nationwide drop in the cost of property this year.

    It added that in each case, house prices (relative to earnings) were comfortably below their levels before the financial crisis of a decade ago, which meant constraints on potential buyers were not nearly so severe as in London and the south-east.

    RICS said levels of activity in the residential property sector had been “a little underwhelming throughout 2017”, with the closing months of the year especially tough. Economic uncertainty meant buyer inquiries had stalled, sales volumes had flattened out and sentiment had turned cautious.

    Tarrant Parsons, RICS economist, said: “Following a pretty lacklustre finish to 2017, the indications are that momentum across the housing market will be lacking as 2018 gets under way. With several of the forces currently weighing on activity set to persist over the near term, it’s difficult to envisage a material step-up in impetus during the next 12 months.

    “However, the fundamentals are not much changed from the end of 2017, so levels of activity should soften only marginally when compared to the year just ending. A real lack of stock coming onto the market remains one of the biggest challenges, while affordability constraints are increasingly curbing demand in some parts. Given these dynamics, price growth may fade to produce a virtually flat outturn for 2018.”

    He added: “That said, despite the recent interest rate hike, mortgage rates are set to remain very favourable, with the prospect of further rises seemingly minimal over the coming year. Alongside this, government schemes such as help to buy should continue to provide some support to sales activity.”

    Britain’s leading mortgage lender, the Halifax, said it thought prices would rise by 0-3percent in 2018, but agreed with RICS that the market would be weakest in London and the south-east.

    Russell Galley, managing director of Halifax bank, said: “At 9.1percent in the third quarter of 2017, the north saw the steepest annual rate of house price growth, followed by the east Midlands and the northwest. London was the weakest performing English region with an annual rate of 2.6 per cent, down from a recent peak of 21per cent in Q1 2016. In the south-east, for the first time in three-and-a-half years, house prices increased at a softer pace than the UK as a whole.

    “As a result of the rapid price growth in the capital, house prices in relation to average earnings are still very high in London; at 8.8 times annual average earnings they are close to the historical high of 9.

    “Additionally, mortgage affordability in London is worse than its long-run average, the only region in the UK where this is so.”

     

    • COURTESY THEGUARDIAN UK.

     

  • Global forum on Lake Chad holds next month

    The Federal Ministry of Water Resources will host a global forum on sustainable solutions to save the drought-ravaged Lake Chad between February 26 and 28, 2018, in Abuja.

    This was contained in a statement signed by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Dr. Musa Ibrahim.

    Ibrahim said the conference would be held in collaboration with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC).

    The theme of the conference is: “Saving the Lake Chad to revitalise the Basin’s Ecosystem for Sustainable Livelihood, Security and Development.’’

    He explained that the objective of the conference was to create global awareness on the socio-economic and environmental challenges arising from the shrinkage of the lake.  He further explained that the forum would present an opportunity to deliberate on the effect of the lake’s desiccation on people’s livelihoods and security, with a view to developing a comprehensive programme and action plan to address it.

    Ibrahim added that the conference would inform stakeholders on the  opinions on the various solutions to restore the lake. He listed one of the solutions to include the Inter-Basin Water Transfer (IBWT) project, aimed at transferring water from Ubangi River in the Democratic Republic of Congo into the Chad basin.

    He said there was a need to gather political and financial support for the restoration of the Chad Basin.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Lake Chad is about eight per cent of the size of Africa and the lake is shared by Algeria, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Libya, Nigeria, Niger and Sudan.

    The eight countries have an estimated population of 373.6 million, with 12 per cent of the estimated population living around the Lake Chad in 2013.

    The people living in the basin depend on the lake for water supply as well as farming, fishing and livestock production.

    Information available on the LCBC website says that a review of the hydrology of the Lake Chad Basin shows that in the wet years (years before 1973), water inflow into the basin averaged between 30km3 and 40km3 per year. In the dry years (years after 1974), water inflow averaged between 20km3 and 21km3 per annum, while the lowest inflow – 16km3 – was recorded in 1984.

  • NCF set to tackle illegal wildlife trade at lecture

    The Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF), has concluded plans to hold the 2018 Chief Shafi Lawal Edu Memorial Lecture. The 2018 Lecture, which is the 16th edition in the series, is scheduled to hold on Wednesday, January 17,  at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Victoria Island in Lagos.

    The lecture, titled: “Combatting Illegal Wildlife Trade in West Africa: the role of Environmental Law and Governance”, is part of NCF’s sustainable development agenda and its contribution to nation building. A professor of Environmental Law and Policy and the Vice Chancellor of Lagos State University, Ojo, Professor Olanrewaju Fagbohun, will deliver the lecture.

    According to the NCF Director-General, Mr. Adeniyi Karunwi, the theme was informed by the rising cases of illegal wildlife trade in Nigeria and other West African countries.

    “Policy Advocacy is a cardinal programme of the Foundation, which is used to advocate actions on imminent environmental issues, hence the choice of the topic,” he said in a statement.

    Karunwi said the lecture was initiated by the NCF to immortalise its Founder, the late Chief Edu. “In the past 15 years, lectures in diverse environmental issues have been discussed as a way of advocating and educating the populace on the need to be well sensitised and embrace nature conservation and sustainable livelihood,” he explained.

    At the event, two PhD students studying environmental sciences in Nigerian universities will also be awarded scholarship Grants. The Grant, sponsored by Chevron, is to encourage the students to undertake research work in the fields related to nature conservation, biodiversity and sustainable livelihood.

    The NCF has its projects spread across the country, which are directly based on one or all of the Foundation’s activities in biodiversity conservation, environmental education, policy advocacy and improvement of livelihood of host communities.

  • Weather disasters cost $306b in 2017, says NOAA

    Weather and climate-related disasters cost the United States (US) a record of $306 billion in 2017, the third-warmest year on record, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has said.

    The report from NOAA underscored the economic risks of climate change, as President Donald Trump’s administration casts doubts on its causes and has started withdrawing the US from a global pact to combat it.

    According to NOAA, western wildfires and hurricanes Harvey, Maria and Irma contributed to making 2017 the costliest year on record.

    The previous record was $215 billion in 2005, when hurricanes Katrina, Wilma, and Rita slammed the US Gulf Coast.

    Average annual temperatures for the contiguous US were 54.6 degrees Fahrenheit (12.6 degrees Celsius), 2.6 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th Century average and the third warmest since record keeping began in 1895, following 2012 and 2016, the agency said.

    Scientists have long concluded that carbon dioxide and other emissions from fossil fuels and industry are driving climate change, leading to floods, droughts, and more frequent powerful storms.

    Trump’s administration has promised to boost US oil, gas and coal production.

  • Lagos Assembly set to review Land Use charge law

    The Lagos State House of Assembly has reviewed the state’s  Land Use Charge.

    The House, last week, read for the second time a “Bill for A Law To Repeal The Land Use Charge Law 2001 and Enact Land Use Charge 2017 and For Connected Purposes”.

    The Assembly committed the bill to the House Ad hoc Committee on Finance, headed by Mr Yinka Ogundimu.

    According to the Speaker, Mr. Mudashiru Obasa, the proposed law is all about increasing the revenue generation of the state by bringing more houses into the net. Obasa said a situation where only a few consultants were working with the state government on the collection of Land Use Charge was discouraging.

    The Speaker, who noted that  many buildings had yet to be captured in the tax net of the state, said there was need for more consultants.

    “We need more consultants to do the job, so that the entire state can be covered in the collection of Land Use Charge.

    “Whatever tribunal that would be set up to deal with offenders should have the support of the government.

    “On the issue of exemptions, we cannot exempt religious organisations because most of the worship centres are making money.

    “We could only exempt non-governmental organisations; however, let’s leave all in the hand of the committee,” he said.

    Also, the House Majority Leader, Mr. Sanai Agunbiade, said  the bill would repeal the laws on land use charge.

    The House Deputy Speaker, Mr Wasiu Eshinlokun-Sanni, who commended the bill, said it would help to increase the revenue of the state government.

    The Chairman, Adhoc Committee on Budget and Economic Planning, Mr Gbolahan Yishawu, harped on theenforcement of collecting the charges.

    He decried the situation, where only about 300,000 houses were paying land use charge in a state with over two million houses.

     

  • Govt urged to ratify Bamako Convention

    As preparations get higher for the second meeting of Conference of the Parties of the Bamako Convention (Bamako COP2) scheduled to take place in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, from January 28 to 30 2018, the Federal Government has been urged to ratify and implement the treaty.

    Leslie Adogame, SRADev Nigeria’s Executive Director, who made the call in a release earlier in the week, lamented that it is worrisome that Nigeria, who should play a leading role in the continent, has lagged behind 29 other countries in Africa.

    The Bamako Convention on the ban on the import into Africa and the control of transboundary movement and management of hazardous wastes within Africa is a treaty of African nations prohibiting the import of any hazardous (including radioactive) waste. The Convention was negotiated by 12 nations of the Organisation of African Unity (now African Union) at Bamako, Mali in January 1991, and came into force in 1998.

    “Nigeria’s delay in ratifying the Bamako Convention after 20 years of its coming into force is a bad omen for a toxic-free country and continent; it is simply not enough to sign the Convention without ratification to implement it,” said Adogame.

    Bamako COP2 will be held under the theme: “The Bamako Convention: a platform for a pollution-free Africa”. To date, the Convention has 29 signatories and 25 parties. Nigeria is yet to ratify and implement the Convention since becoming a signatory in 1998.

    Faith Osa-Egharevba, Senior Programme Officer, at SRADev Nigeria, said: “Nigeria’s continued ‘observer status’ since COP1 in 2013 simply means no voice in the continent’s negotiation and on-going effort to implement the treaty.”

    Justifying the need for the ratification, Adogame stressed that in Africa, the impetus for the Bamako Convention arose from the realisation that several developed nations were exporting toxic wastes to Africa, such as the Koko case in Nigeria and Probo Koala case in Cote d’Ivoire. He added that the ratification and implementation of the Convention had become expedient since Nigeria recently signed a pact with Russia to build and operate a nuclear power plant despite concerns about poor quality control, safety and waste management.

    In “The Future We Want”, the outcome document of Rio+20 (2012), Nigeria reaffirmed its commitment to achieve by 2020, the sound management of chemicals throughout their life cycle and of hazardous waste in ways that lead to minimisation of significant adverse effects to human health and the environment, as set out in the Johannesburg Plan Of Implementation (JPOI 2002).

    Similarly, Nigeria has consistently reiterated its diplomatic support for the United Nations in all its efforts, including the attainment of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

     

     

  • Visionscape takes delivery of waste management equipment

    Lagos State Waste Management concessionaire, Visionscape Sanitation Solutions, has taken delivery of new 100 vehicles fitted with cutting-edge technology for its operations.

    The consignment consists series of waste trucks, from various rear end loaders to operational vehicles. With this, the company said it is set to begin operations across the state by moving onto the next phase of their contract for the Cleaner Lagos Initiative (CLI).

    “The addition to the waste management fleet is in line with our commitment to provide integrated waste management services, using state-of-the-art equipment and innovative solutions to help transform megacities,” the Chief Operations Officer, Visionscape Sanitation Solutions,  Mr. Thomas Forgacs explained.

    The trucks are fully equipped and embedded with cutting-edge features, which include a Global Positioning System (GPS), radio-frequency identification (RFID) and automotive Controller Area Network (CAN) system.

    These innovative features, Forgacs explained,  are designed to meet the operational needs facing waste management across the state. Using these systems, he said, will enable the firm to thoroughly monitor and track the state’s waste collection process, ensuring the trucks are seamlessly deployed for effective waste collection, and all communities within local council development areas (LCDAs) and local government areas (LGAs) efficiently covered.

    “In the last six months, we have surveyed all of Lagos State and collated vital data to make our operations highly effective. We therefore understand population density of the communities and areas that will be serviced, even up to the number of streets and households across the state. This preliminary assessment has aided us to know the amount of waste that will be generated in any particular location,” Forgacs stated.

    Visionscape holds the residential waste collection contract for Lagos State and the management of three operating waste transfer loading stations, which are being renovated, under Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA). To date, the company has successfully cleared over 1,000 litter black spots and illegal dumpsites across the state, as part of their pre-operational

    Visionscape is in a public-private partnership with the Lagos State  to provide management services for the CLI under the LAWMA.

  • Lagos NUJ decries Mowe land abandonment

    Lagos NUJ decries Mowe land abandonment

    Lagos State Council  Chairman, Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Dr. Qasim Akinreti, has assured subscribers to the NUJ Mowe land of his administration’s determination to find a lasting solution to the controversy surrounding the land. He made this pledge when he led a delegtion of the state  executive council (SEC), and other stakeholders to the NUJ  site in Mowe, Ogun State. The NUJ Mowe land has been enmeshed in crises, following a controversial housing project initiated by the Nigerian Association of Women Journalist (NAWOJ) President, Mrs. Ify Omowole

    During a tour of the 56.753 hectares of land, the team expressed shock at the state of affairs on the land, which was bought over a decade ago by the union.

    A member of the delegation and  The Nation NUJ Chapel Chairman, Comrade Musa Odoshimokhe, lamented that no development had taken place on the land.

    He said it was regrettable that given the peculiar situation journalists in the country had found themselves, self-help programmes initiated by the leadership of the union to provide shelter for its members had been left to not only waste away, but be a subject of embarrassment to all.

    Out of the 56.753 hectares of land,  less than a plot of land was fenced, despite the fact that subscribers paid N60, 000 for perimeter fencing per plot more than five years ago to the immediate past administration of Mr. Deji Elumoye.

    Stakeholders also rued the uncompleted gate house and iron gate,which they claimed not only fell short of standard, but has suffered from corrosion due to long years of inactivity on the land. The survey pillars, the stakeholders said, have been washed away.

    The NUJ state executive council (SEC) also condemned in strong terms, the three uncompleted structures on the land, built by the developer, Primewaterview Holding Limited.  It maintained that the structure did not only fall short of expectation in terms of standard, it did not justify the amount members were made to pay to the developer.

    “This is not the type of house they told us we will get. This is exploitation and it is a shame. A lot of our members had high hopes of owning their house through this project, but now this seems like a shattered dream,” Odoshimokhe lamented.

    The Investigative Committee on the NUJ/NAWOJ Pen Jewel Estate Project Chairman, Mr. Fabian Anawo, briefed members on its findings.He said the committee was doing its best to find a lasting solution to the Mowe land debacle. He called on subscribers to be patient and wait for the report of his committee.

    “We are aware that subscribers are agitated. We share their feelings and pains. But soon, we shall find a solution to the debacle. Please just tell your chapel members to be patient with the Lagos NUJ administration,” he appealed.