The Lagos State Government on Tuesday said it had begun sustained engagement with stakeholders to resolve infrastructure crisis and abuse between residents and Tank Farm owners in Satellite Town, Lagos.
The Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr Idris Salako, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the government was sensitising the Tank Farm owners on the need to carry out Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in their host communities.
Salako said Tank Farm owners were very important to the nation’s economy and CSR in form of infrastructure maintenance and environmental protection was important to make host communities receptive.
“We have been talking with the residents and Tank Farm owners to see how we can manage the situation.
“And we have been talking to these Tank Farm owners to do the needful and be responsible to that environment in which they operate.
“And being responsible to that environment, is to consider the health implications and the issues that border on the environment in which they operate,” said the commissioner.
According to him, the Tank Farms are germane to the economy of the country, hence the need for them to show some level of responsibility and be alive to the community in which they find themselves to reduce agitations.
He added that the state government, through its Public Works Department, had been alive to its responsibility of delivering good road infrastructure in the area.
He said the Lagos State Public Works Corporation had carried out maintenance on about 279 roads across the state in the last one year.
However, he said the heavy duty trucks that patronised the Tank Farms and container terminals were responsible for the pot holes and damage to the roads.
Salako said the government was always engaging the Tank Farm owners on the need to assist with the mainteanance of roads in their areas of operation as part of their CSR.
“We are still talking with them, sometime last year the ministry was supposed to do statewide monitoring and enforcement activities but like I said Tank Farms are very germane to the economy of this country.
“And so we are very mindful how we manage the situation but we are still discussing, they asked us for time, and I believe they themselves know that it is time they come back to the table and let us discuss how to manage this environment in which they operate.
“We will continue the discussions and let them see reasons why they should do more,” he said.
Speaking on gas plants in residential areas, he said they were complimentary facilities required but were being regulated.
“You cannot divorce the citing of complimentary facilities from our development activities,” he said.
He said the ministry always ensured that gas plants in residential areas were properly cited with requisite planning approvals from DPR and Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources as well as clearance by Safety Commissions.
The commissioner said selling of gas cylinders and small quantities of gas by operators in the informal sector was an age-long practice, which rarely caused fire out breaks.
He said the owners had the right to operate but relevant agencies of his ministry carried out daily safety checks in their various districts to avert danger.
Salako said the state’s ministries of Energy and Mineral Resources as well as the Safty Commision were constantly carrying out surveillance to guide against compromise that could put residents in danger.
“We have been shutting down those without planning permits and all necessary clearance.
“It is part of our monitoring and surveillance activities to make sure that such facilities are provided in the right place according to the planning permit in that area,” he said.
