The Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Honourable Kehinde Bamigbetan has said that the Cleaner Lagos Initiative is on course to becoming a successful programme, assuring that massive efforts were ongoing to address the concerns of the people over the teething challenges experienced in the implementation.

The Commissioner also confirmed media reports that the programme was being sabotaged by vested interests, stating that in several instances, they noticed that areas where the representatives of Visionscape Sanitation Solutions had cleared of heaps of refuse became heavily packed with refuse again after a few hours, adding that “this is not natural”.

He also admonished residents to dispose their waste in the bins provided for the purpose in order to make the state cleaner and healthier.

Honourable Bamigbetan maintained that the collaboration by Visionscape Sanitation Solutions, VSS, and the Private Sector Participant operators, PSPs, is geared towards making the state clean. He said “the collaboration with the PSPs is already on”.

The commissioner who was speaking during a live interview programme on TVC News, disclosed that 186 compactors had already been deployed by VSS to tackle the refuse situation in the state out of the 600 ordered by the company for the project.

He said pending the time when the remaining trucks would arrive, VSS would work in collaboration with PSPs to fill the gap.

Honourable Bamigbetan said Visionscape is responsible for residential collection of waste while the PSPs are responsible for commercial collection of waste.

Reacting to the insinuation that the initiative was not working, the Commissioner said, "What has just started cannot be said to have failed. The rollout is still on. Fifty seven Local governments have been distributing waste bags to residents through the Community Development Associations, CDAs. The waste bins are also being distributed across the state for effective waste disposal.

“During the days of Lagos State Waste Management Authority, LAWMA, we realised that the reason why people dumped waste on the road medians was that they didn't want to pay for the service. But with this model, people will pay a one-off Public Utility Levy. All residents need to do now is to bag your waste and VSS will pick any waste from your doorstep. There is no reason for you to take your waste to the roads or medians anymore.

“The current model is for VSS to pick the waste from doorsteps, take it to the Transfer Loading Stations first for temporary activity before taking it to the landfills for permanent activity," he stated.

Lalasticlala , Seun