The Lagos State Government has reached an agreement with waste collection operators otherwise known as Private Sector Participant (PSP) operators, Visionscape Sanitation Solution to work together as partners to achieve a cleaner, healthier, and safer Lagos.
Under this new agreement, the PSP will return to their role as residential waste collectors while Visionscape will oversee the waste management infrastructural reforms in the state.
https://twitter.com/CleanerLagos/status/981888306123345925
Visionscape has refurbished three dilapidated Transfer Loading Stations previously managed by LAWMA in Simpson, Agege, and Oshodi.
In addition,the waste management company is currently facilitating the completion of an Engineered Sanitary Landfill in Epe which at this time, serves as a safer alternative to the Olusosun dumpsite. which caught fire a few weeks ago and has since been shut down by the state government.
Recall that trouble started between the PSP operators and the Lagos state government when the government suspended their operation in the state and engaged the services of Visionscape to manage the refuse collection in the state.
This, however, drew condemnation by stakeholders and residents in the state. The PSP operators went to court in January last year to challenge the government’s action.The court ordered that parties should explore an alternative dispute settlement but sadly this has stalled as both sides have refused to budge.
Many residents have lamented the return of refuse dumps on the streets of Lagos and wondered if the waste management company has the capacity to manage waste collection in a city like Lagos. This olive branch waved at PSP operators is expected to bring to an end several months of dispute from both parties.
While expressing his delight at the peaceful resolution of the disagreement, Oladipo Egbeyemi, Chairman of the Association of Waste Managers of Nigeria, AWAM, expressed his gratitude to the state government for their unrelenting support and dedication in the face of the challenges faced by the PSP operators.
The Chief Executive Officer of Visionscape Sanitation Solution, John Irvine, applauded the new found understanding between his company and the Waste Collection Operators and stated that challenges being experienced in domestic waste management in Lagos State had to do with the fact that the domestic waste operator was just in its first cycle of operation.
In his words:
“It is not unusual to face this kind of problems especially in the first cycle of operations. It takes some time to build the superstructures and to ameliorate the present hiccups; we are buying locally and taking steps to have waste container bins manufactured locally”
To me, Visionscape is a scam.
This is good welcome development in Lagos state.