Waste management: Lagos introduces public utility charge
The Lagos State Government has said that it would introduce a new annual public utility levy to be paid by residents of the state under the new waste management regime.
Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, said that the new public utility levy will be introduced to replace all service fees previously paid to the Waste Management authorities, adding that the public was carried along in determining the rates, which according to him, was relatively low.
The state governor said this on Wednesday after signing the Environmental Management and Protection Bill into law at the State House, Alausa, Lagos.
He disclosed that a consortium that would be in charge of the new waste management system would deploy 900,000 bins across the state for waste management.
“The levy will be a major contribution to the State’s ongoing efforts to address severe challenges that are unique to Lagos because of rising urbanization. The money will be held in the Environmental Trust Fund and managed meticulously by a Board of SEC regulated trustees,” Ambode said.
“The trustees are under strict obligations to the people of Lagos and will be accountable to the people for every naira we spend in line with our overall environmental agenda. Compliance is the key. The burden of the cost of providing these services will remain low if everyone does their part and pays their public utility levy.
“With the newly positioned LASECORPS, we will work within the community to enforce the new laws. The State will have a zero-tolerance policy for offenders because simply put, disregarding payment of your PUL or flouting the new regulations ultimately promotes activities that lead to the loss of lives.”
He said over the concession period, the consortium would be deploying a large multidimensional fleet of over 20 landfill and transfer loading station management vehicles, 590 new rear-end loader compactors, 140 Operational vehicles and close to 900,000 new bins to all be electronically tracked and monitored by the Public Utilities Monitoring Assurance Unit under the Ministry of Environment. (Adapted from a Thisday report)
