Babatunde Fashola, minister of works and housing, says the
Lagos-Ibadan expressway and the Second Niger Bridge will be completed by
Decemeber 2022.
Fashola said this on Sunday in an interview on Channels
Television.
He also said the roads will be tolled, noting that the
completion date for the Lagos-Ibadan expressway was subject to challenges that
have slowed down work.
“The expected completion date now will be in the last month
of this year. We are hoping that we will be done before Christmas and that is
subject to a lot of variables,” Fashola said.
“As we speak now, somewhere between Ojo, the Oyo state
government is constructing a drilling facility. So, that has slowed our work
considerably, in spite of the fact that the contractor is now working at night.
So, just two days ago, Governor Makinde and I were talking because I called him
a week ago that look, we need to make a choice, which do you prioritise the
drainage or that road? And he said the road is what affects, but we can’t
dismiss the need for the drainage. So, he called me back to say look, he has a
solution now. He’s worked with the contractor, talked to them and we’ll discuss
it in this new way.
“So, these are some of the challenges.”
Fashola, who hinted at the situation of the road prior to
the current administration, said the Lagos-Ibadan expressway was in a terrible
condition.
According to him, part of the reason the project had taken
this long was because of a lack of funding from past governments.
“Let me also say that over the years, at the time, we took
$2 billion to go and pay creditors in 2005 this road was bad. People used to
sleep on it. So let us dimension that completion. The road is built in
sections. That road has no less than 40,000 vehicles every day that’s the
traffic road count that we did, so you can’t close it down. So, what we do is
to close sections of one side, divert traffic to the other side. Complete about
10/20 kilometers and then reopen it and move traffic back,” he said.
“Now what you might not know and it is important to share
this the construction material likely comes from Ogun state. So, whether you’re
constructing the Lagos section or the Oyo section, you have to go and move
laterite cross tools, and all of that, they move in the same traffic. So,
thousands of daily truck trips. And that road is being excavated to about a
meter or more deep, so, we’re
essentially first removing bad material from unsuitable material, filling up
and then constructing the road. So, I don’t think it is slow. What has happened
is that over the years government has not funded it sufficiently.
“So, we factored it this year subject to some of these
challenges that I’ve told you. Governor Makinde and I will resolve that pretty
soon.
Fashola, while admitting that the road will be tolled, said
it will eventually be “handed over to the concessionaires who NSA is talking to
to bring in more financing.”
According to him, the road will “two to three” tolling plazas.
“One on the Lagos end, one in the Ogun end. And I think the
other one, in Ibadan which is what we used to have there before traditionally,”
he added.
Meanwhile, speaking on the completion date for the Second
Niger Bridge, the minister assured Nigerians that the road would be opened for
use by December 20222.
“We’re planning also
before Christmas to open that (Second Niger Bridge) to public for use, because
that’s when there’s a large movement. Hopefully by Christmas, it should also be
open. That was the last meeting I had with the contractor I think about three
weeks ago. There are challenges of course, as you might know, but the main
bridge deck is finished,” Fashola said.
“The toll plazas have been built.”
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