President Buhari |
Nigeria's Federal Executive Council, FEC, on Wednesday approved N72.9billion
for the reconstruction of the road from Apapa to the toll gate on
Lagos-Ibadan expressway in Lagos State.
Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, made this
known to State house Correspondents in Abuja after the weekly executive meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Fashola said the decision was taken to provide a long term solution
to the road, which had suffered a lot of gridlock in recent times.
“The Ministry of Power, Works and Housing secured approval for the
reconstruction of the Creek Road Tincan Island-Beach Land right through
to Oworoshoki to the toll gate end of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway for
the full reconstruction of that road which was built around 1975 as part
of our first port expansion undertaken then in the 70s.
“That road was intended to evacuate cargo out of Lagos without running through the spine of the city.
“The road is now in some state of disrepair and Council has approved its reconstruction at the cost of N72.9 billion,” he said.
According to the minister, the work will be done using a Public-Private Partnership PPP model.
He named Dangote Group as the constructing firm for the road project,
saying that the N72.9 billion for the execution of the project would be
recovered through the funding credit tax policy of government.
The minister further said when fully constructed, the road will have
10 lanes, with five on both sides, with a total of 270.8 linear
kilometres, including drainage, rehabilitation of some of the bridges
and interchanges.
“First, it will be done through PPP model. The constructing company
will be the Dangote group. It will be financing that construction to the
tune of N72.9 billion as certified by PPP.
“Another instructive thing to note is that this is the first full
reconstruction of that road since it was constructed at about 1975.
“All previous efforts had been to repair damaged sections. So, it is going all the way to reconstruct the road.
“The third thing to note is that the entire construction is that it
involves procurement of 27.8 kilometres made up of 10 lanes – five lanes
on both sides – three on the main carriage way, two on service lanes.
“So, essentially, you are constructing about 79.8 linear kilometres
and that also include drainage and use of extensive cement work and
rehabilitation of bridges.
“We expect contractors to move to site. This is our own long term
solution to the problem contributed by the road congestion there.
“This will provide enduring solution to what is currently being experienced by commuters,” he added.
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