The Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) threatened yesterday that it would sanction auto dealers, who spill water on the Lagos/Abeokuta Expressway.
FERMA’s engineer for Lagos West Kehinde Afolabi, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, said the activities of some auto dealers were damaging the road and causing logjam in the area.
Afolabi, also acting chair Southwest 2, Federal Roads Committee on Surveillance and Action against Road Abuse, said the dealers had frustrated efforts to rehabilitate the road.
“Do you notice they sell cars at ‘U’ Turn, Ile Zik? They sell cars there and we have warned them to reduce the spillage of water on the road. That has been the problem we are having.”
We intend to serve them notice now to close that place.
“Several times we would go there to amend the problem; we carried out palliative works last week.
“FERMA has put boulders, stone base and we compact that place, but if they continue washing vehicles there, we will continue to have problem.’’
“It is possible we could construct a drain but is the activity a normal activity? It’s not. You are not meant to wash cars on the road; if you want to wash car in your yard then, do your own line drain to link the Federal Government infrastructure. It’s not designed to receive water, water is not friendly with our road.“
A salesman in Discount Autos, Mr Gboyega Salau, told NAN that the pool of water in front of his shop was the outcome of an uncompleted drainage project.
Salau said the auto shops were on the lowest gradient of the road and that due to lack of proper drainage each time it rained rainwater always flooded the area.
He said FERMA had yet to serve them any form of notice to stop them from either channeling water to the road or to construct channels for proper disposal of the water.
“They have not served us any notice, no paper has been served on us, no FERMA people have been here to talk about this issue. They did half of the road, half of it is left undone, half of the place that is left undone, the water would go beneath the wrapper and destroy it. That is what is happening, it is not our activities.
“It is not from us but they stopped the drainage, stopped it at the front of the mosque there; that is where it was stopped. If they had completed it, we will not have the problem we are having,“ he said.
A Manager at Tomsal Motors, Mr Ibrahim Busari, told NAN that it was impossible for the auto dealers to construct drainage channels due to the damage it would cause to the underground communication cables.
“They planted some cables here, we wanted to construct the drainage, but we don’t know where these things were laid, it will affect them if we start constructing it. It is only government that has the diagram and they know where to pass the drainage.
Also, the Managing Director of Kayode Motors, Mr Kayode Opeifa, said FERMA officials claimed that they did not have enough materials to rehabilitate the road.
Opeifa urged the Federal Government to increase the budget for FERMA to carry out adequate rehabilitation of dilapidated roads.
