N3bn Agbowa sawmill ready by December - Official

The contractors handling the N3billion Agbowa Timbervile, a modern sawmill, have given an assurance that the project will be completed by December, a State Government official, said on Sunday.

Mr Rufai Durojaiye, Director, Project Planning, Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, spoke during his visit to the site of the project in Agbowa, Ikorodu.

He said that the major preliminary work on the project had been done and the contractors had commenced the concluding aspects of the ultra-modern sawmill.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the Agbowa Timberville, being built on 214 hectares of land, is designed to have 250 office units and 250 housing units for saw millers.

It will also have saw sheds, trailer parks, modern restaurants, meeting halls and a recreation centre, among other facilities.

Durojaiye said that saw millers displaced by a fire incident in Okobaba would operate at Timberville in line with the promise made by Gov. Babatunde Fashola to relocate them to a better environment.

'We are happy with the pace of work here and we have received the words of the contractors that the project should be completed by December.

'The major work, which is the sand filling of the site, has been done. And about 150 structures, comprising housing units and offices, have been erected .We hope the remaining structures will be completed soon.

'You see, Gov. Babatunde Fashola did promise shortly after saw millers were displaced by a fire incident at Oko-Baba that they would be relocated to a modern sawmill.

'The promise is not only being fulfilled, it is being fulfilled in a big way,' he said

Durojaiye said incorporation of housing units in the project was to enable the saw millers that would operate at the facility to work close to their homes.

He said the dredging of 'Odo-Iya Pupa'' alake overlooking the facility, was to link the sawmill to the lagoon to facilitate transportation of logs to the facility by water.

The President, Lagos Mainland Saw Millers Association, Mr Abdul-Ganiu Onikeku, said the saw millers were impressed with the massive development going on in the area.

'We are satisfied with what is going on, we want the project to be completed on time. We have agreed to move and we thank government for this project,' he said. Mr Oluwole Rotimi, Chief Operating Officer, First World Communities, the contractors handling the project, revealed that the project would be completed around December as the work was progressing at a faster rate. He said the waterlogged terrain had been a challenge, but since it had been overcome, other things would be easy to carry out. NAN