The Ibadan Urban Flood Management Project (IUFMP) is to commence the dredging of 45 rivers and streams across 11 local government areas within the Ibadan municipality.
The World Bank-sponsored project, according to Abiodun Adefioye, the IUFMP communication consultant, is to forestall flooding and loss of lives and property.
In a statement signed by Adefioye, the project came on the heels of the approval of the executive governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, for the assignment and the earlier clearance of the same by the World Bank.
The dredging activity sub-project, which was packaged into four lots, was competitively bided for by over 20 duly qualified companies, resulting in the emergence of four successful bidders, namely: Transcend Construction Limited (Lot 1), Dephany Ventures Limited (Lot 2), Dutum Company Limited (Lot 3), and Lopek Engineering & Construction Limited (Lot 4).
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Also, four top-notch engineering professionals have been engaged as the supervising consultants, one each for the four lots. To flag off the assignment, a kick-off meeting has been held with the contractors and supervising engineers, with members of the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) of IUFMP as well as officials of the relevant Ministries in attendance.
While declaring the meeting open, the acting project coordinator of IUFMP, Olasunkanmi Sokeye explained that the approval by Seyi Makinde for the task was essentially to protect the lives and property of people against any losses from flooding.
He added that the imperative of executing the task in line with the specified engineering requirements and in strict compliance with environmental and social safeguards standards cannot be compromised. The dredging works, which consist of 11 sites each for Lots 1 to 3 and 12 locations for Lot 4, is to be executed within six weeks.
