•Ramps up work on Lagos-Ibadan expressway
Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
The federal government at the weekend pledged to complete work by December on the Apapa-Oshodi-Oworonshoki Expressway, which was officially kicked off in November 2018 by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Speaking during an inspection of the four sections of the project, the Federal Director of Highway Construction and Rehabilitation in the Ministry of Works, Mr. Funso Adebiyi, said the road had achieved varying levels of work on all the sections.
“Overall, 61 per cent has been achieved as of today, in the first phase covering 27km of this ever-busy road project,” a statement by the Director, Press, at the Ministry of Works, Mr. Boade Akinola, said.
He added: “On section 1, we have achieved about 70 per cent completion; and on section 3, we have achieved 63 per cent. Section 4 has recorded about 41 per cent, which means work is going on in that section. The contract for section 2 has been awarded and work would commence there soon.”
The director explained that before the intervention of the federal government through the ministry of works and housing, the road was in a deplorable state which hindered the free flow of traffic on the road.
“But from what we have seen so far on the finished portions of the road, I want to assure you that bad days are over. We have good days here now and better days are ahead of us. So, Nigerians should bear with us.
“We are making progress and I can assure you that by the end of this year, Apapa port users would have the best road because we have made significant progress, ” he explained.
Adebiyi noted that the current traffic gridlock experience on some sections of the road was not due to the construction but the illegal parking of trailer drivers on the bridge, advising that the drivers should use the trailer parks along the corridor and the newly constructed one for transit to the port.
On the economic benefit of the project, the Director of Highway, South-west, Mr. Kuti Adedamola, said aside easing traffic, the project had created about 600 direct jobs and over 1,000 indirect ones.
Meanwhile, the federal government has said that ongoing rehabilitation, reconstruction and expansion of Lagos-Ibadan dual carriage way have reached an appreciable level of completion.
Adebiyi, who spoke during a visit to the project site at the weekend to assess the progress of work done, expressed satisfaction with the quality of work going on at 127-kilometre project.
He explained that because of the strategic importance of the road, which connects the northern, southern and eastern parts of Nigeria, the federal government would do all that is necessary to see that it is completed on time.
“The project is a strategic infrastructure development of Mr. President in bridging the infrastructure gap of the nation and this demonstrates that the present administration is poised to develop our highways,” he said.
