Flooding: Stakeholders Task Lagos Govt On Integrated Master Plan

As floods continue to take its toll on the Lagos State built environment, submerging houses, sacking residents, stakeholders in the nation’s shoreline development have urged the state government to immediately develop a 50 to 100-year integrated master plan for the state’s coastline to curb negative effects of flooding.

They also warned that indiscriminate shoreline reclamation could undermine Lagos’ future if left unchecked.

The president of Shoreline Developers Association of Lagos (SDAL), Lai Omotola, who stated this during the inaugural meeting of the association in Lagos, stressed the need to develop a long-term master plan to regulate development of homes and infrastructure along its shoreline worst hit by flooding.

According to him, the integrated shoreline master plan must encompass comprehensive drainage infrastructure, strict environmental and social impact assessments and the deployment of advanced technology to safeguard coastal communities.

He said, “Let me tell you categorically, the Lagos Coastal Road is not responsible for the flooding. It is the people that built along the coastal road before the project started. How did that happen? They were there before the Coastal Road came. When they were building they built their houses without the master plan.

“So the height of the foundation as at the time they did it was without a master plan or future development plan  and they did it according to their road level without any consideration that the Coastal Road designed since the 1970s will ever come or become a reality. So when that Coastal Road was built according to the height of the road, all the houses fell below.

“So when it rains water will always find it level and flow from the mountain to the valley. The coastal road was built according to the master plan but the neighbors that built left and right built outside the master plan so all their houses have now become reservoir of water. The bitter truth is that they must demolish those houses and build according to the master plan.”

Omotola, said the phenomenal growth in shoreline property investments had made sustainable coastal planning an urgent national priority.

According to him, shoreline property values have surged by 751 per cent over the past five years, while planning permit and title registration fees have risen by about 300 per cent, attracting a wave of investors, many of whom pay little attention to environmental sustainability.

“Our vision is to ensure that development complements nature, not destroys it. We must move beyond crisis management to long-term strategic planning that protects our coastline for future generations,” Omotola said.

He said the association is a self-regulatory body committed to promoting science-driven, technology-based and climate-compliant shoreline development.

Omotola stressed that shoreline development goes far beyond sand-filling, saying Lagos possesses enormous untapped opportunities in fisheries, offshore wind farms, marinas, coastal rail infrastructure, renewable energy, eco-tourism and high-value port logistics.