FG Begins Construction of First Phase of 700km Lagos-Calabar Coastal  Highway

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

The federal government  has commenced the construction  of the 700km Lagos- Calabar  Coastal  Highway, spanning nine states, with two spurs leading to the Northern states.
Minister of Works, David Umahi, during  the official  handover of  the first  phase of the project, made up of 47.47 kilometres dual carriageway to Hitech Construction Company Ltd, said the project will be constructed with concrete pavement.

In company with the Federal Ministry of Works’ Controller in charge of Lagos State, Olukorede Kesha, Umahi emphasised the need for all contractors handling federal government road projects to deliver  within record time.
A statement by his spokesman, Uchenna Orji, quoted Umahi as noting that the government  would  not allow  variation arising from delays or slow  pace of work once mobilisation had been done.

He, however, commended Hitech Construction Company Nigeria Ltd  for being  reputable  for quality  and speedy delivery of jobs, acknowledging their efforts  in starting work immediately after the contract  was awarded.

He said:” They have completed some filling of 1.3 kilometres from the day  the project was awarded to them. It shows the speed they are going to  deploy to this project. Within a couple of  weeks, we awarded the project to them, they mobilised a lot of dredging equipment, and you can see that they have recovered 1.3 kilometre of section one of the phase.”

The minister  who also visited  project  sites at the Queen’s Drive Ikoyi, the 3rd Mainland  bridge top deck, the  underwater, the Iddo bridge,  the Eko bridge  and Carter  bridge expressed  the determination  of the federal  government  to carry out a comprehensive  rehabilitation  of the  bridges which  he  said are critical links between  the  mainland  and the  island  in Lagos.

 The repairs , he said, are expected  to cover not only the top of the bridge  but also the under bridge works.
He said: ” At the 3rd Mainland bridge, we have three or four critical elements to be rehabilitated. The first one is the deck, and the deck is about 11 kilometres × two. That is  dual carriageway, including the ramps, and it has been done by CCECC.

“They have done very beautiful jobs, but we have not concluded.  Before the end of March, we’ll be concluding the asphalt milling and the re-asphalting.  But that is not all our commitment there.

“We are installing the guardrails, we are replacing the lights with solar light, we are going to put some decorative lights too, and then we are going to put CCTV  camera both on top and under the bridge to check insecurity and illegal mining of sand, which is causing scouring on the piles and the pipe bits.
“The second job is that some sections of the slab are deflected, and so what we have done is to get an expert to understudy the level of deflection. That’s the tendons of the slab that deflected.

“And so we are going to cut open the slabs, enter and then look at it, scoop it, and then reinstate the tendons of the slab. There’s nothing to worry about. It’s been done at a Eko bridge by Buildwell. So this one is not a threat to us at all,” he stated.
He commended  what Julius Berger Nigeria  Ltd is doing already, which is the restoration of deteriorated piers and caps.

Earlier  in their  respective  remarks, the State  Controller,  Federal Ministry of Works  and the representatives  of  Hitech Construction Nigeria Ltd, Julius Berger  Nigeria  Ltd, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation Ltd,  and Buildwell Nigeria  Ltd assured  of their commitment to timely completion of the projects.