Early in February this year, when engineers from Bashcaul Civil Engineering Construction Company arrived Alhaji Idowu Street on Akowonjo-Egbeda road, area of Lagos State with bulldozers and materials for fixing the badly damaged roads in the community, residents had stared at them with scepticism. The residents were used to seeing construction companies, coming to the area to carry out road repairs. They were also used to seeing such contractors, bolting a few weeks after their arrival. They disappeared, leaving the roads worse than ever.
According to the residents, there had been series of moves to fix the roads for close to 35 years, but all efforts had perpetually failed. Indeed, it was alleged that some of the former construction companies, left, making a beeline for the government house.
There, they collected cheques for roads they hadn’t fixed. Many of them had got away with this scam because previous governments had never taken time to investigate roads claimed to have been fixed by contractors. But in February 2016, the story changed for residents of this street. The jinx, which had been impeding fixing of the road for more than 35 years, got finally broken.
The construction of the roads has begun in earnest. Commercial motorbike riders told New Telegraph that they were shocked to see the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, visiting the scene, to ensure quality work progress. The persistent catalyst that however ensured there was no monkey business with the work, is the presence of the 73-year-old Executive Chairman of Bashcaul Construction Company, His Royal Highness, Engineer Munirudeen Adeposi Bashorun.
Bashorun should probably be in his palace, settling community disputes; but the engineer, who trained overseas and later worked with Julius Berger Construction Company, before cutting out to start his construction company, said he likes ensuring that the job was done to perfection.
So, the monarch, with his son, Wale Bashorun, the Executive Director of Bashcaul construction were always at the site with their workers, monitoring, inspecting and directing. Slowly and painstakingly, the road, which was always flooded, all year round, with potholes everywhere, reluctantly succumbed to the vast experiences of the engineers.
Drainages were created and muddy roads embraced interlocking stones. To ensure the road was fixed to meet the required standard, some buildings had to go. Residents, whose buildings were affected, were assured of compensation. The Lagos State Government further stunned the residents by providing street lights.
The street lights were first switched on last week at night. Immediately the light came on, the community erupted into celebration. A visit to Alhaji Idowu Street last week, witnessed visitors celebrating with residents. Residents described the community as, ‘our small London.’ One of those, who watched the arrival of the engineers with scepticism, was the Chairman of the Community Development Association, (CDA), Mr. Olaleye Ayoyemi Ayowale.
Today, his scepticism has changed to optimism. Ayowale is one of the oldest landlords in the community and has witnessed the coming and going of different construction companies. But as the visible construction is ongoing, he wears a smile of satisfaction as he peeps out of his window to watch the work progress. He had seen a lot of suffering in the community, including witnessing the submerging of the only school in water after a heavy rainfall. The school was eventually shut down.
There had been promises from past Lagos State Government to provide a new school in the community but the promises remained stillbirths. Thereby, parents and guardians became forced to take their kids to far distances for schooling. Ayowale has also witnessed homes of families being flooded during rainy season. Indeed, residents viewed rainy season with despair and dread. According to him, the fixing of the road was a dream come true. He said he never expected to be alive, to witness it.
“I have a house in Festac Town, but I moved into Alhaji Idowu Street in 1982. We have made entreaties to government over construction of our roads here. There had been promises, but nothing ever happened. Each time they slated our community roads for construction, it would be diverted.
Now, we see this happening; we are happy. It’s for our own benefit. We really appreciate Ambode and the construction company. We thought it wouldn’t happen in our life time.
“The contractors are doing excellent job. The monarch promised that those, whose buildings were affected during expansion and construction of the roads, would be compensated. He had already asked for a comprehensive list of those affected.” The construction company was supposed to fix just Idowu Street, but to ensure proper construction work was done and the water, which causes a ‘river’ in the community to be diverted, the monarch deployed his wealth of knowledge, and extended the construction of Alhaji Idowu Road to Oke Street, leading to Akowonjo Roundabout and Lambe Kudaisi Street.
Alhaji Moshood Idowu, another landlord in the area, whom the street was named after, said: “The contractors are working with so much sincerity; they should be praised.
They have done a first class job. The government has also done well. The fixing of our community roads was a dream come true. These engineers are committed to the project,” he said. Wale noted that although the project started in February and got delayed because of some unforeseen hitches, the construction would, however, soon be over. Recollecting the hitches, Wale said that they had to redirect the water from the previous area government wanted, after they realised the government’s plan wouldn’t work.
They also halted work because of the rains. But the most challenging was that a river, which was at the Alhaji Idowu junction, linking roads to Lambe Kudaisi Street and Oke Street, Akowonjo Road, was deeper than they expected. The construction company had to increase the stone base poured into the river, to ensure a proper construction work was done.
“The extra materials poured into the river, were not part of the presentations made to the government. But Bashcaul Construction doesn’t care about cost and money. We only want to carry out a good job,” said Wale.
Wale added: “Any other construction company would have gone on with the work, after discovering the challenge posed by the river at the Alhaji Idowu Junction. It however would have meant roads getting damaged again; taking everyone back to square one.
The community will suffer for it. We started construction six months ago; February to be precise and we are almost rounding off. What we are doing now, is just extra work. We had to factor Lambe Kudaisi Street into the construction. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t be able to redirect the water. Some people said we started the work late, but we needed to carry out proper survey.” Mr. Idowu said: “Yes, Alhaji Idowu junction is where water used to gather.
This spot had always been the greatest challenge for the community. The monarch said they had to drain and dig deep into the river, in order to fill it with rocks.” According to the monarch, he and his company had constructed roads in areas like Agege, Ogba and others. He said the quality work of his construction company, speaks for itself. “We are doing a lot here at Alhaji Idowu, which we did not budget for.
The soil at the junction, where there was a river, was bad. We lost a lot of stone base. The present design of the road now means that even disables can walk through.” He said. Idowu chirped in: “What the government has given us, is a life time gift. Lagos is a mega city. What the government and construction company are doing is a mega road, for a mega community.”
The Secretary of the CDA, Mr. Dipo Kehinde, who is also the publisher of a crime magazine, Chief Detective, said: “Yes, whenever there was rainfall, most houses would be flooded. Many businesses suffered because of the bad roads in the community. I’m an artist. Some art collectors came twice to check out my works.
When they got to our street, they went back because of the roads. It happened twice. We called this road, the jinxed road, because different contractors have come and gone. But the jinx is now finally broken. We’re all happy!” A resident, Segun Oluseye, applauded the ongoing construction. He said, “We are happy that Lagos State Government has remembered our community.
We, however, still expect more from the government. We still want them to fix more streets in our community. We have seen construction works going on in other communities, ours is long overdue. We’re happy.”
Source: New Telegraph