• Grants 2,366 building approvals within a year
• Unfolds plans to meet 40% food need

Lagos State government yesterday said that it had attracted investment worth $250 million for its new industrial cum residential development aimed at boosting economic activities and jobs.

The state’s Commissioner for Commerce, Industry and Co-operatives, Dr. Lola Akande, disclosed this at the year 2020 ministerial press briefing to commemorate Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration, saying that the total value of the 24 companies within the zone is estimated to be $250 million.

“The companies will engage about 2,050 employees in the first phase of their operations.”

Akande said that the Alaro city project, located at Epe on a 2,000 hectare piece of land, is a public-private partnership and mixed industrial-residential development where the Lagos State government owns 40 per cent as land equity while Messrs Rendeavour, Africa’s largest estate developer, owns 60 per cent.

The commissioner, who also disclosed that the investment in the Lekki Free Trade Zone Development Company had been yielding result as $30 million goods were exported in the last 12 months while 19 new companies are at various stages of deployment, said that the state government, through the ministry, remains committed to the establishment of the Fashion Hub and Academy on a 10-hectare land Enterprise Zone at Gberigbe in Ikorodu.

In another development, the state government has adopted electronic means of monitoring the built environment and approval methods to enhance ease of doing business in the sector.

Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr. Idris Salako, disclosed this yesterday during the briefing.

Salako, who said the measure would boost physical planning services and instil public confidence, which had led to granting of 2,366 building approvals in the last one year, highlighted the reforms to include inauguration of an ombudsman in the form of the Lagos State Physical Planning and Building Control Appeals Committee that will, among others, address petitions on contraventions of the urban development laws and passage of a new regulation.

He said that the reforms were already assisting in the delivery of the mandate of the ministry, especially the issuance of planning permits, carrying out regulatory and other activities.

Also, the state government yesterday disclosed that its integrated rice mill at Imota was at 80 per cent completion level, and that it would create over 250,000 direct and indirect jobs when it becomes operational.

It also unfolded various agricultural projects that could shore up its food production status to achieve sustainable food security in its efforts to provide food for over 24 million people in the state.

The state’s Commissioner for Agriculture, Gbolahan Lawal and Special Adviser to the Governor on Agriculture, Abisola Olusayan, disclosed this in Lagos while rendering the account of activities of the ministry within the last one year to commemorate the first year anniversary of the Sanwo-Olu-led administration.

They said that these agricultural projects would ultimately shore up the food security status of the state from its current 18 to 40 per cent.

Lawal noted that the present situation of food security in the state had been especially impacted by the lessons learnt from the coronavirus pandemic, a situation that has made deliberate efforts and policy formulation on the part of the government imperative.