LASG assures PSP operators of their job
The Lagos State Government has assured Private Sector Participation – PSP -operators of their job despite the involvement of foreign firms in waste management in the state.
Involvement of foreign firms in waste management in the state was proposed by the executive arm under Cleaner Lagos Initiative which is part of the Environmental Management, Protection and Sustenable Development Bill, 2017.
The state Commissioner for the Environment, Mr Babatunde Adejare, gave the assurance in Lagos at a public hearing on the bill.
The commissioner was reacting to protests earlier on Thursday by some of the operators over the bill.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Lagos State House of Assembly cut short its seven-week recess on Feb. 6 to consider the bill that seeks to harmonise all environmental laws in the state.
PSP operators had stormed the Assembly, saying that the proposed law would kill their investment.
They claimed that only 20 per cent of the state waste volume would be left for 350 of PSP operators to manage while 80 per cent would be given to foreigners.
Adejare said: “LAWMA (Lagos State Waste Management Authority) is the only authority by law to cart away wastes, not these licencees (PSP). They are contractors to LAWMA and they have a contract that has expired in May/June 2016.
“We also recognise that LAWMA, by using PSP, has done well in the past.
‘‘But as it is today, about 80 people come into Lagos per hour, only 10 leave per hour, so we have a retention of 70 per hour.
“Each person generates waste, and the state now has about 26 million people. We are generating above 13 metric tonnes of waste per day.”
The official said that the state could no longer cope with the existing waste disposal system.
‘‘We are not sending the 350 PSP operators out of business. Even the most lucrative part of the business which is commercial ceded to them.
“Less than 200 of the 350 operators are capable. There are proof, it is either they don’t have compactors again or they are moribund.
‘‘We see some of them (compactors) on our roads broken down.
“We have over 10, 000 commercial interests in Lagos for only 350 operators. If we divide that, an operator will still have about 33 of those commercial interests to himself,” Adejare noted. (NAN)
