By Dipo Olowookere
A mukti-purpose equipment called the Super Metro Elephant has been acquired by the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA).
The new Super Metro Elephant with a multiple features can serve the purpose of Crane and Goliath combined especially when the situation to be attended to falls within the capacity of the Super Metro.
It has the towing and lifting capacity and can work from the rear, the left side and the right with the capability to also pick objects from the three positions especially fallen tankers and articulated vehicles.
Business Post reports that the acquisition of this equipment brings the number of Light and Heavy Duty machines procured by LASEMA to 50 in the last three years.
General Manager of LASEMA, Mr Tiamiyu Adeshina, while unveiling the new equipment on Friday at the agency’s office at Cappa, Oshodi, said that the Super Metro can move at a higher pace than the regular crane and Goliath, and will also not encounter the difficulty of moving around the State especially some areas that cannot accommodate the crane and the Goliath because of their huge sizes.
“Apart from towing, this Super Metro Elephant also has a lifting capacity. It combines what a Crane and Goliath does. This implies that we don’t have to inconvenient other road users when responding to emergency situations.
“Instead of occupying the entire road with the Crane, we can now deploy this new equipment to manage the incident without necessarily occupying the entire stretch of the road,” he explained.
Speaking further, he said, “The Super Metro doesn’t work from the back alone, it works and auxillates to 270 degrees and has a retracted boom capacity of 9 tonnes that can tow and drag out any trapped vehicle or articulated truck to a safer place.”
According to him, the state government has arragement in place for regular maintenance and replacement of parts for all its vehicles and other equipment, stressing that the good mainatenance culture has kept the fleets of vehicles within the disposal of the agency working since the last two years without any major breakdown.
Mr Tiamiyu also disclosed that plans are in place to procure more emergency response equipment to serve some LASEMA centres that are presently under construction in different part of the state.
He stated that the huge resources being committed to emergency response by the present administration is a pointer to the vision of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode led administration to achieve a safer and a more secured Lagos for everyone to live, work and invest.
This new Super Metro in addition to the light duty vehicles, search and rescue equipment earlier procured this year would greatly assist in managing emergency situations in the state.
It would be recalled that the state government in February this year procured some light duty equipment including Hydraulic rescue equipment, Power Unit attached with Spreader, Rescue Ram, Cutters, Combi Tools, Concrete Cutters amongst others and were distributed to all the LASEMA Response Unit across the state.
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