Can Sanwo-Olu return Lagos sanitary glory as Ambode down looks waste matters?
Findings by Business Hilights Intelligence Unit (BHIU), an independent research arm of the Business Hilights Media Group, have shown that the current Governor of the Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode has extended his silence from road repairs to even evacuation of solid waste doting parts of the state. This is based on the fact that majority of streets and roads in parts of Lagos other than areas around Ikeja, the state capital, are now dotted with solid wastes.
Accordingly, many parts of the state especially, areas known for commercial activities and even residential areas have been suffering pile up of solid wastes in the last couple of months following the halted contract with Visionscape Sanitation Solutions in driving Cleaner Lagos Initiatives (CLI).
However, latest credit rating of the state seems not affected as Fitch Ratings, a global credit rating agency, has affirmed the positive economic ratings of Lagos State despite the missed contracted services payment by the troubled waste management group.
In a statement, Fitch said the State’s B+/(AA+(ngn)/ ratings remained stable and unaffected by the default of the SPV Municipality Waste Management Contractors Limited (MWMCL) led by Visionscape occasioned by the halt of the said contract and the subsequent resolution of the State House of Assembly.
The SPV is a private consortium led by Visionscape Sanitation Solutions (Visionscape), a company mandated to manage Lagos’ waste collection and disposal. Early last month, the SPV is reported to have missed the semi-annual principal and coupon payments for about N800million on the N4.85billion tranche under MWMCL’s N50billion medium term note programme.
The bond was issued by MWMCL reportedly to raise funds to purchase recycling trucks and equipment, linking debt service to the proceeds coming from Lagos for the implementation of the waste recycling contract.
Recall that at the inaugural meeting held to herald the choice of Governor-Elect, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, it was reached that all former franchise holders in the Public-Private-Participation (PPP) which had been driving waste management drive in Lagos under the LAWMA management are to be returned following the ouster of Dubai-based Visionscape Group.
