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According to the United Nations projections, Lagos' population will reach 20 million by 2010. Thus, by the UN standards, Lagos has attained the status of a mega city, having achieved a population of over 10 million.

Indeed, compared to other major cities of the world, it is one of the fastest growing mega cities; easily the most populous city in Africa and its population far exceeds the entire population of some countries. By 2015, Lagos is projected to be the third mega city in the world.

Regrettably, the infrastructural facilities in place have not been able to march the city's population explosion. They have virtually collapsed where they existed and in certain instances, almost non-existent. To mention the depth of the inadequacies, many roads in the state have gone bad, the mass housing policy of successive governments, save for the Lateef Jakande administration between 1979 and 1983, has proved ineffective, public schools are collapsing, while the attainment of health for all by 2015 appeared to be a mirage.

Unfortunately, too, there is mass unemployment among the youths, thereby giving rise to insecurity and rising crime wave in the state.

Efforts by the successive governments to rebuild the city are not too remarkable. However, the Babatunde Fashola administration's efforts to implement the new Lagos mega city project has demonstrated the state government's commitment to transform the state into a mega city status. In a bid to achieve this, several hurdles must be surmounted.

The first of these hurdles is road construction and rehabilitation in the state. It is beyond debate that the major highways and roads are in deplorable condition.

Commuting from one part of the state to another is becoming a nightmare. Evidently, motorists and commuters often waste several man-hours in traffic daily and the situation is worsened by the inadequacy or absence of link roads in all the 20 local government areas and 37 local council development areas of the state.

Though the state government claimed that it had embarked on aggressive road construction projects and upgrading of some roads, such as the Lekki-Epe highway and Ajah-Badore road under the Lagos infrastructure project, the attendant traffic gridlocks in other major areas are far from being addressed.

Against this backdrop, the interventionist approach of some commercial banks, which collaborated with the state government to rehabilitate some strategic roads in the state to enhance economic and commercial activities, is worth commending.

Adeola Odeku Street, Victoria Island, for instance, was upgraded by a new generation bank that also carried out beautification of the median as a demonstration of its corporate social responsibility.

The state government, too, has embarked on aggressive greening and beautification of open spaces, decrepit loops, verges and medians under its 'Operation Green Lagos' programme.

Be that as it may, the state government has a responsibility to open up more coastal and link roads to ease the pressure on the existing highways. It also owes a duty to ensure the local government councils rehabilitate the roads in their localities.

As for public transportation and traffic management, the system is chaotic, as it daily haul is about six million passengers between the mainland and the island in about 75,000 unregulated mini-buses. In essence, movement is mainly either by private cars or by buses.

According to a publication of the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority, nationally, there are 11 vehicles to every kilometre of road, whereas in Lagos there are 222 vehicles to every kilometre.

Unfortunately, these vehicles now constitute the greater cause of congestion on Lagos roads.

In response to this challenge, the state government rolled out 100 high capacity 'Blue buses' and 26 'Red buses' on March 17, 2008, signalling the inauguration of the Bus Rapid Transit system, conceived as the precursor of the Lagos Urban Transport project.

Indiscriminate waste disposal is another serious challenge threatening the image of the state. It is no exaggeration that Lagos has huge waste disposal problem. The city generates about 9,000 metric tonnes of wastes daily and its major highways and streets are littered with dirt. Hence, the blockage of the drains is often partly responsible for the severe flooding being faced by some parts of the state in recent years.

To combat this problem, the state government outlawed waste cart pushers, criminalised indiscriminate disposal of wastes and inaugurated some firms as Private Scheme Programme waste collectors.

Events in recent times have, however, shown that the PSP waste collectors could not effectively manage wastes in the state without the involvement of the environmental unit of the local councils and other stakeholders.

Despite the state government's investment in the health sector, the health care delivery in the state has not make much impact on the people. This has been attributed to the increasing numbers of patients seeking medical attention in the government hospitals. This, of course, is having a bearing effect on the facilities in the public hospitals, which have been overstretched.

Coupled with this is the seeming neglect of the primary and secondary health care. As a result, the tertiary health institutions such as the Lagos University Teaching Hospital and Lagos State University Teaching Hospital could not cope with the influx of patients daily.

A worrisome aspect of life in the state is the lack of potable water supply. The notable water works in all parts of Lagos are almost in moribund state.

The 2006 World Bank-assisted Lagos State household survey revealed that about 48 per cent of the households patronise water vendors as their alternative source of water supply.

In response to this, the state government in its publication on Babatunde Fashola's 300 days in office claimed that it had empowered the Lagos Water Corporation to construct a 12.5MW independent power plant at Akute to increase the public water supply.

Besides, it claimed that five micro-water works, including the 4.4 million-litre Ijora-Badiya facility had been completed and water network expansion undertaken at Iwaya, Ojo, Oworonshoki, Igando and Otto-Awori.

Despite all these claims, access to public water in the state, which is one of the cardinal points of the Millennium Development Goals, is far from being realised.

The housing policy of the state government has made it difficult for an average Lagos resident to acquire a flat in any of the state government's estates. Right from the inception of the democratic dispensation in 1999, it appears there is a deliberate state policy to phase out the construction of low-cost housing units in the state.

Though the state government claimed that it had institutionalised a N40bn state mortgage scheme in partnership with five banks to provide affordable houses for low and medium income earners over a 25-year period at a maximum interest rate of 10 per cent, no resident has actually come forward to lay claim of benefitting from the scheme.

Similarly, the cost of flats in millennium housing estates and the estates owed by corporate estate firms is far beyond what civil servants, workers and retirees in the state can afford.

Of course, it is necessary for the state government to build more markets so as to dislodge street and roadside traders.

The state administration should realise that not all traders can pay for a space at new Balogun, Tejuosho, Oyingbo and Alade markets. Therefore, new markets should be developed before task force officials are deployed to seize goods from the poor street or rail line traders.

Lack of energy and regular power supply has proved to be not only a national disgrace but also a threat to industrial growth and development in the state.

However, the state government has rated itself high in coping with this task. Hence, it claimed it had put in place a new energy plan, which among others, included the provision of N150m rural electrification scheme and the stimulation of N180bn private power investment in the Lagos energy city Project in Badagry.

Lagosians eagerly look forward to the success of this project in the new year.