Minister of works, David Umahi said the federal government has so far paid N10billion as compensation for property demolished for the construction of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.
He disclosed this while interacting with contractors at the Ministry of Works in Abuja.
He stated that the ministry had reduced the project’s size from ten lanes to six as a cost-saving measure for the legacy project.
The minister also stated that the first 47km section of the project would be open to the public by May 2025.
Umahi also announced that work will resume on the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano highway next week.
He said, “For the three legacy projects by the administration, the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway, we have cut down the project size to six lanes, especially from sections two, three, and four, it shows you that we mean business. Some people have been writing that we have stopped the project. No project is stopped. In fact, as we are talking now, over 4 kilometres of concrete road has been completed on six lanes.
“We had to establish a new path due to complaints made by MTN on its subsea cable and Okuaja community, we had to reroute not to the new alignment, not to the gazetted alignment but far away from the two, and we came back to a new alignment at kilometre 25. So the work is going and it’s moving smoothly. We have paid the total compensation of close to N10bn. we are not owing and the contractor is highly commended for a very beautiful job, commitment and being very reasonable.
“These projects are investments, and they have inherent returns on investments. By May 29, 2025, we will have completed section one of the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway. Apart from the land, we are going to acquire for tourism, factories and industries when we tow the road within ten years we would recover the cost of the money
so it is an investment.”
He added, “Sections three and four have been finalised, but we are going to do stakeholder engagement in either Cross River or Akwa Ibom because that is where those sections will get started so that we can ensure procurement. But the design is almost completed.”
Speaking further at the meeting, the minister expressed regret over the scarcity of funds, noting that the government inherited over 2,600 projects valued at N15trillion.
He explained that, aside from the inherited projects, the government initiated 330 emergency projects totalling N260billion due to the delay in payments to contractors.
He noted that over 80 per cent of these projects have already been completed.
He further explained that the ministry will no longer allow contractors to determine the cost of projects by excessive price variation.
Given the paucity of funds, he said projects on dual carriageways will not be funded at the same time.
Meanwhile, the minister has urged contractors to refrain from submitting excessively large price variations, emphasizing the government’s limited funds to accommodate such demands.
Umahi lamented that most contractors lack the required personnel and equipment and resort to delay tactics to keep getting easy money from the ministry through price variations.
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