Fashola: Eko Bridge Fire Stalls Completion of Apongbon

Bennett Oghifo

The Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola has said that projections the federal government made to complete the rehabilitation of a burnt section of the Apongbon Bridge in Lagos before Christmas has been thwarted by another fire on the Ijora Olopa section of the Eko Bridge.

“There will not be Apongbon for Christmas, as much as we tried,” said Fashola, while briefing journalists after an inspection of ongoing work at Apongbon and Eko bridges, recently.

According to the minister, “efforts to quickly complete initial emergency rehabilitation on Eko Bridge were slowed down when Apongbon Bridge was affected by fire in March.”

He said construction materials imported for completion of Eko Bridge were deployed to begin urgent repairs on Apongbon Bridge, adding that efforts to complete Apongbon before Christmas had also been frustrated by another fire that affected the Ijora Olopa section of Eko Bridge on Nov. 4.

He said the delivery date of Apongbon Bridge, earlier fixed for December 2022, had been extended to May 2023 because of the emergency repair of the Ijora Olopa section of Eko Bridge.

The government would not be able to actualise its plan of completing Apongbon Bridge because its materials had been deployed to the burnt section of Eko Bridge.

Fashola said, “That is what happens every time you burn the bridge. It is collective pain, I use the bridge too,” stating that the fire incidents were caused by illegal activities of a few residents, which could lead to collapse of the bridge, posing threat to lives.

The decision to shut the Ijora Olopa section of Eko Bridge pending integrity tests, he said, was a painful one, but that it was “to avert a gory situation where a bridge weakened by fire would collapse and lead to loss of lives.”

The minister directed the contractor, Buildwell Plants and Equipment Industries Ltd, to provide the cost of the rehabilitation work at Ijora Olopa section of Eko Bridge. 

The Director of Construction, Buildwell Plants and Equipment Industries Ltd, Mr George Mohanna, gave a presentation of the Ijora Olopa and Apongbon reinforcements and repairs.

The Director, Highways, Bridges and Design, Mr Oluropo Oyetade, said Eko Bridge, built in 1969, first underwent maintenance in 1975 when it was upgraded, stating that it did not undergo any other maintenance until 2021.

This, he said, was followed by that of 2022 where over one hundred damaged bearings and expansion joints were being changed.

Oyetade noted that recalcitrant occupants and traders did not keep the promise they made to the minister when they pleaded to be given one month extension after expiration of the ultimatum given them to leave.

Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, said quick action would be taken against illegal occupants under the Eko bridge.