The Committee on Works, Housing and Infrastructure Development of the Lagos State House Assembly on Saturday, visited the disputed site for the proposed 19.39km road to link up Ijedodo, Ijegun and Abule-Addo in Iba Local Council Development Area (LCDA).
The community has been upbeat following the marking out of several houses as being on the project Right of Way (RoW). But the affected residents were irked by this development which they described as a total deviation of what is in the original plan of Ijegun – Ijedodo and Abule Addo model city plan 2010-2020 and as approved by the government.
One of the affected residents Mr Young Abokitia, who spoke with journalists during a protest over the issue last week, said: “You can see the masterplan of the state government had delineated a particular place for the road project. But what the land grabbers, popularly known as omonile are trying to do is out of the original plan. They want to change it to where the NNPC pipeline are laid. This is wrong and dangerous.
“Since they marked our houses, we had taken frantic efforts to explain to the omoniles and written petition to the state government which prompted a visit by the Lagos State Physical Planning Permit Authority (LASPPPA). There is no way government would want to construct road on NNPC Pipeline or near it.
“The entire community and its neighbour know the proposed site for the road and it is glaring in the original plan.
“We have also written petition to the State Assembly on how omoniles in Ijedodo had lured the state government to abandoned the place delineated for the road and encroached on their properties to construct the proposed road”.
When the Lagos State House committee visited yesterday, the residents, led by their Counsel, Mike Babalola, took the lawmakers round the disputed site through Ijegun-Ikotun roundabout down to Ijedodo, towards Abule Addo.