Effects of Abandoned Urban Infrastructure on Environmental Development in Ogun State

Abstract

The well-being of any nation is based on its readily available and functional infrastructure. The abandonment of urban infrastructure does become a threat and causes an environmental nuisance, slowing down development. The study assesses the impact of abandoned urban infrastructure on the environmental development of Ogun State. It examines the effects of abandonment on the environment and identifies the various causes and types of abandoned urban infrastructure in the state. Questionnaires and interviews were used to gather data from estate surveyors, valuers, and end users of urban infrastructure. The data was analyzed using a descriptive analysis and the Relative Importance Index (RII). The effects of abandoned urban infrastructure on environmental development were determined to be environmental degradation, a decrease in business activities, and an increase in health issues. The study recommends that infrastructural projects should be done in bits to avoid abandonment, ongoing construction should always be kept clean to avoid negatives uses, good health care and environmental cleaning up should be done for the people, and the use of turnkey projects as well as the globally established PPP model of infrastructure delivery.

Abandonment of Housing Projects in Nigeria: Appraisal of the Environmental and Socio-Economic Implications

“…This is followed by health challenges/ insecurity and threat to lives then followed by socialeconomic challenges. Some of the findings are in agreement with earlier findings by [4]; [16] and [26].…”

“…Economically, abandoned housing projects are a waste of valuable resources, causing decline in property value and loss of community aesthetics values [11], [25]. In their submissions, [19], [4]and [26] summed up the effects of abandonment of housing project generally to include reduction in employment opportunities, wastage of resources, decreases in tempo of construction activities, decrease in revenue accruable to government, disappointment of populace/users; lowering of living standard; pollution of environment; structural failure (collapse of building), migrationand difficulty in attracting foreign loans.…”

“…Similarly, [26] carried out a study on 'Effects of Abandoned Urban Infrastructure on Environmental Development in Ogun State, the aim of the study was to examine the effects of abandoned infrastructure on the environment with the objective of identifying the causes and types of abandoned infrastructure in Ogun State, Nigeria.…”

“…Based on project site visitations and discussions with stakeholders in the Building industry in addition to the view expressed specifically on the study of these authors namely; [11], [4], [15], [16], [5]and [26], this study therefore summarize the effects of housing project abandonment as follow:…”

Infrastructure Development and Abandonment

“…• Odutola and Adeniran (2017); Abdul et al (2018) -road and bridge constructions • Nwannekanma and Gbonegun (2019) -National Art Theatre. It is one thing to "accelerate investments in infrastructure" as included in the Federal Government statement, while it is another thing to ensure the sustainability of the infrastructure to evade abandonment (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2017).…”