The Federal Government has begun building of the 700-kilometer Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, as well as the repair of major Lagos bridges.
During the official handover of the first phase of the project, Minister of Works, Engr. David Umahi, stated that the government would not allow variations due to delays or sluggish speed of work after mobilization was completed.
The Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway connects nine states, including two branches heading to the Northern States.
According to a statement from the Minister’s Special Adviser on Media, Barr. Orji Uchenna, the first phase, which will consist of 47.47 kilometers of dual carriageway on concrete pavement, has been turned over to Hitech Construction Company Limited.
The minister, who was accompanied by the Federal Ministry of Works’ Controller in Charge of Lagos State, Engr. (Mrs) O. I. Kesha, underlined the importance of all contractors working on Federal Government road projects delivering on time.
He did, however, praise Hitech Construction Company Nigeria Ltd’s reputation for completing jobs on time and with high quality.
He said, “They have completed some filling of 1.3 kilometer from the day the project was awarded to them.
“It shows the speed they are going to deploy to this project. Within a couple of weeks, we awarded the project to them, they mobilized a lot of dredging equipment, and you can see that they have recovered 1.3 kilometer of Section One of the phase.”
The Minister who also visited project sites at the Queen’s Drive Ikoyi, the Third Mainland Bridge top deck, under water, Eddo bridge, Eko Bridge and Carter Bridge expressed the determination of the Federal Government to carry out comprehensive rehabilitation of the bridges which he said are critical links between Lagos Mainland and the Island.
The repairs are expected to cover not only the top, but also under the bridges.
He said, ” At the Third Mainland Bridge, we have three or four critical elements to be rehabilitated. The first one is the deck, and the deck is about 11 kilometers into two places.
“That is dual carriageway, including the ramps, and it has been done by CCECC. They have done very beautiful jobs, but we have not concluded. Before the end of March, we’ll be concluding the asphalt milling and the reasphalting,” Umahi said.
He continued, “We are installing the guardrails, we are replacing the lights with solar light, we are going to put some decorative lights too, and then we are going to put CCTV camera both on top and under the bridge to check insecurity and illegal mining of sand, which is causing scouring on the piles and the pipe bits.
“The second job is that some sections of the slab are deflected, and so what we have done is to get an expert to understudy the level of reflections.
“That’s the tendons of the slab that deflected. And so we are going to cut open the slabs, enter and then look at it, scoop it, and then reinstate the tendons of the slab. There’s nothing to worry about. It’s been done at Eko Bridge by Buildwell. So this one is not a threat to us at all,” the minister added.
Earlier, the State Controller, Federal Ministry of Works and the representatives of Hitech Construction Nigeria Ltd, Julius Bergger Nigeria Ltd, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation Ltd, and Buildwell Nigeria Ltd assured the Minister that they would continue to work in line with the spirit of excellence, which the Renewed Hope administration of President Bola Tinubu represents.