Lagos Dissociates Itself from Mayfair Gardens Water Rate Crisis

The Lagos State Government has dissociated itself from the water rate crisis currently causing disaffection between residents and the management of the Mayfair Gardens Estate, located along Lekki Epe Expressway, saying that no such rates emanated from the Government.

This was disclosed by the Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Babatunde Durosinmi- Etti in his office in Alausa on Monday during a meeting with the Heads of the Lagos State Water Regulatory Commission, Architect Kabir Abdullahi and Lagos Water Corporation, Engr. Munir Badmus.

The Environment Commissioner urged Lagosians to report any illegal billing or borehole closure to the Ministry of the Environment, stating that government would not authorize the closure of any borehole in the state except where such borehole was found to be contaminated and unfit for domestic use.

Durosinmi- Etti said that Mayfair Gardens was a private residential Estate, built and maintained by HFP Engineering. “Being a private Estate, HFP Engineering has been responsible for servicing the Estate with social amenities such as water. This is an indication that the Estate, not being serviced by the Lagos Water Corporation, could not have received bills from the water Agency”, he said.

He stated further that for selling water to its residents, the Estate could be categorized as commercial users of water, adding that government would not hesitate to give charges where applicable to promote responsible commercial usage of water in Lagos State.

The Environment Commissioner emphasised that the State Government had introduced some measures of control for commercial usage of water, because water is a resource that must be protected.

He said that regulation, control and monitoring of all state water resources was to take inventory of the sources, quality of water produced and consumed by citizens and also to promptly identify any known sources of pollution of the underground water.

He said that Government was not unaware of the hardship that the misunderstanding between the management and residents of the Estate had caused, stressing that State Government was prepared to intervene and help the two parties resolve the contentions issues.

In his wards: “the environment and wellbeing of the people is our concern. This is why we must wade in to the crisis to stem any form of environmental degradation that could be the outcome of water crisis in that Estate.”