IUFMP moves to avert flooding, launches 2021 river dredging activity in Ibadan

In a proactive bid to forestall the flooding predictions for Ibadan, the Oyo state capital during the ongoing rainy season, the Ibadan Urban Flood Management Project (IUFMP) has launched dredging of forty-five (45) rivers and streams as well as desilting of blocked drains at different locations across the eleven (11) local government areas in Ibadan metropolis.

The roll-out, according to IUFMP, is in furtherance of the approval of the Oyo state governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde, for the assignment and the earlier clearance of same by the World Bank.

It would be recalled that dredging of rivers/streams and desilting of blocked drains in Ibadan have been carried out as a palliative component of the IUFMP mandate since 2016, to complement the Project’s ongoing implementation of reconstruction of damaged hydraulic infrastructure across the city.

The exercise has helped to enhance the capacity of the many water channels within the city to discharge flood water, thus boosting the flooding resilience index of the metropolis.

Over the years, a cumulative length of 339,412 meters of rivers and streams had been dredged spanning different locations in Ibadan.

Contained in a statement on Friday by its Communication Consultant, Abiodun Adefioye, the dredging activity sub-project, which was packaged into four lots, was competitively bid for by over twenty 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).

The statement also added that four topnotch 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”, the statement explained.

While declaring the meeting open, the Ag. Project Coordinator of IUFMP, Engr. Olasunkanmi Sokeye notes  that the approval of Governor Seyi Makinde for the task was essentially to protect the lives and property of people against any losses from flooding.

Sokeye stressed 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 eleven sites each for Lots 1 to 3 and twelve locations for Lot 4, is to be executed within six weeks.