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The Sagamu – Lagos end of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway project will
be completed by 2021, the contractor, Julius Berger, has said .
The Operations Manager, Julius Berger, Thamm Olaf, told the Senate
Committee on Works, led by its Chairman, Kabiru Gaya, on Sunday, that
the project, which was to be completed in 2017, was stalled due to
paucity of funds and the recent expansion.
Gaya and other members of the committee, who were on an oversight
visit to road projects in Lagos, however, stated that they were not
happy about the slow pace of the work, despite the efforts and funds
that had been put into it.
He said the Federal Government had spent a lot of money on the road
and others across the country and had moved cost of road infrastructure
from N 500bn to 600 bn in the 2019 budget to accommodate more road
construction.
“The project is good as it will take care of traffic but we are
not happy with the speed and so we expect the contractor to increase
the pace of work, even though there were amendments on the road,” he said .
Gaya also told journalists that the contractor of the Tin Can
Island Truck Park , Borini Prono, had said that the project, expected to
ease traffic congestion around Apapa Wharf, would be completed in
December.
He said the project had reached 97 per cent completion while
construction of the shoreline, recently added to protect the park, had
commenced.
He said, “When we visited this site in 2015, the construction
was less than 70 per cent; now it is 97 per cent because money has been
paid and we insist that it must be finished by December.
“We have also said that the facilities are not good enough for a
trailer park; there should be more toilets, restaurant and even a small
clinic.”
The committee also inspected the Apapa Wharf Road , a two-
kilometre concrete road being constructed by AG Dangote and expected to
be completed before the end of the year; the Leventis Bridge, which is
expected to be completed by Julius Berger by the first quarter of 2019 ;
and the Third Mainland Bridge, which would be partially closed in 2019
for rehabilitation.
Other roads inspected during the tour were the Ikorodu- Sagamu Road
being handled by Arab Contractors with a completion date of 2021, and
the 1.5 km NNPC Mosimi Access Road, which had been stalled by a debt of
N1bn.
Although the Lagos-Badagry Road project was not inspected, the
Federal Controller of Works, Adedamola Kuti, however, stated that the
Federal Executive Council had re -awarded the contract and work would
commence soon.