The minister of Works, Engr. Dave Umahi has said, the ongoing 700km Lagos-Calabar coastal road project is over 70 per cent completed despite the contractors not receiving proportional funding.
He, however, commended Hi-Tech construction company for its dedication to nation building with construction works being carried out in three shifts.
He hinted that the Financial promoters, the Deutsch Banks and the Development Bank of Southern Africa are very enthused with the fast pace of the project as well as the development partners who have given nod to realise the full potential and work progress of the project.
Umahi applauded the Director of Bridge and Highway Design, Bede Obioha for the unprecedented pace of work on the coastal highway road while commending Hitech for being a development partner in nation building.
He explained that the project upon its completion will accommodate housing estates, commercial centres, factories, observation rooms, and tolling points. He hinted that President Tinubu will be commissioning sections of the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway by May 29th, 2025 as part of a promise kept to realise the project.
“The president is the vision behind the coastal road project, by May 29th he will be commissioning sections of the Lagos-Calabar road as part of his legacy project to bolster road infrastructure,” he stressed.
‘We have surpassed our expectations on the Federal super highway project with the thickness of the roads and the quality of iron reinforcement used on the concrete pavements,’ Umahi stated.
Speaking further, Umahi said: “We are going to be earning carbon credits on Lagos-calabar coastal road by the reason of concrete in the road pavement because it has low emission compared to asphalt road.
“We are going to be earning carbon credits by using solar because we are not burning diesel. This is very important. We are going to be having trees all through.”
The minister explained that the road will ease traffic congestion and integrate multi-modal transport infrastructure.
According to him, ”This project is going to evacuate all the traffic jams out of the town, and that will be a big plus for us. We are not only building for today, we are also building for tomorrow. And, of course, there will be a rail line in the middle. The middle is 12 meters apart.”
He said some areas would also have train stations and facilities for future developments, adding that, “Anywhere we are rising for, flying, we have already done a piling so that the Minister of Transport can just build on what we are doing. We don’t want a fresh piling which will disturb the foundation of our destiny.”
Underscoring the challenges in Section II of the project, Umahi noted the complexity posed by existing industrial infrastructure, noting that, “with the Dangote Refinery, one needs about 60 meters clearance for the trucks to go in and out. We are building a flyover that has a span of 60 meters. And then the next span is 41.6 meters, counterbalanced by the next span, and then the rest is 22, 23 meters.
“So we are flying over Dangote’s refinery, we are flying over Dangote’s fertilizer, we are flying over some other conflict points.”
On expansion plans, Umahi revealed extensive ongoing and planned projects across several states, saying: ‘We have started in Cross River, and of course, Akwa Ibom, we are going there to flag off the construction.’
He further said, the Lagos-Calabar coastal road will be open for tolling by next year January 2026 and Nigeria will recover their money back.
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