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Again, FG stops Ikoyi’s 850 capacity car park project
Apr 09, 2014 Muritala Ayinla and Temitope Ogunbanke
Again, FG stops Ikoyi’s 850 capacity car park project
Apr 09, 2014 Muritala Ayinla and Temitope Ogunbanke
SourceAgain, FG stops Ikoyi’s 850 capacity car park project
For the third time in less than a week, heavily armed soldiers allegedly sent by the Federal Government yesterday disrupted the Lagos 850 capacity car park project.
The site of the ongoing construction work on the multi-storey building and car park which is expected to accommodate 850 cars at Ikoyi area of Lagos, was invaded by soldiers who ordered the construction workers to stop work.
They claimed to have acted in accordance with the instructions given by the Federal Government’s Implementation Committee. According to the soldiers, who are attached to the Presidency Taskforce, the committee had mandated them to stop the construction work.
New Telegraph also learnt when the Lagos State Development and Property Corporation (LSDPC) and the Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA) got to the site to demand reasons for the disruption of the work; they were acting on the instruction given them.
Secretary and Legal Adviser of LSDPC, Mr. Babajimi Benso, who made the disclosure yesterday, said the Lagos State government has mobilised contractors on the site since 2010, saying the project had reached about 40 percent completion level before the interruption.
His words: “The LASDPC and LASWA are developing a large parcel of land opposite the NNPC building in Ikoyi. We are building three structures; one is a multistorey car park that is expected to accommodate 850 cars. “The car park has facility to accommodate physically-challenged people.
In that same building, we are erecting structure that will accommodate LASWA’s head office and also a world class jetty that will be used by all Lagosians. “But, at about 10.00am this morning, we got a distress call from our partner that the project had been stopped.
“Unfortunately our partner is funding the project and has expended about N7billion on it. The taxpayer’s money of Lagos State is not involved at all. “When we received the call, we rushed to the site and saw soldiers in their uniform, asking us to show proof of ownership and title to that land.
We have been on this land since 2010; no one has ever come to us. Now, they ordered everybody out and sealed it up,” he said. Meanwhile, the Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has cautioned the Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, over his alleged invasion of the state with soldiers to disrupt the ongoing Ilubirin Housing projects.
Cautioning the minister yesterday, a chieftain of the party in the state, Alhaji Fatai Oyewuwo, said Obanikoro should not use his position as minister to cause confusion in the state.
