Lagos truck dealers’ fear allayed as Visionscape seek collaboration

Fears of being discarded in the new Lagos waste management process tagged ‘Cleaner Lagos Initiative’ have been allayed as environmental utility company, Visionscape Sanitation Solutions (VSS), has resolved to collaborate with local truck dealers.

The collaboration is apparently expected to bridge the gap of inadequate waste collection causing mass littering while convincing Lagosians it is capable of its new job.

John Irvine, VSS chief executive officer, said the firm had planned to obtain more compactors, but unforeseen delay stalled it.

While it has partnered with Silo Truck for more trucks, he said VSS was also looking at other local dealers.

According to him, VSS has added 43 more utility vehicles to the 55 it began with.

“There are issues with logistics of bringing these vehicles into the country. We are experiencing delays of ordered cargoes at ports. There is a port where we have 40 containers. The terminal has been closed for three months. We had to reorder those things. This is one of the nightmares we have in terms of logistics. You cannot just walk into a showroom and demand for say, 50 compactors. The compactor unit is usually made by a company different from the one that makes the trucks. You have to first get the trucks which you ordered from the truck manufacturer, then move them to the compactor making company to mount them on the trucks. It takes time to get these things done. What is happening is that our resources, which were meant for the residential project, were diverted to handle the commercial areas. It will take time to buy a whole fleet of vehicles to handle the waste in the residential areas,” he said.

Irvine emphasised that the company was committed to effectively managing waste from residential areas, promising that heaps of refuse around residential areas will soon disappear.