FG to Take over Expansion of Lagos-Badagry Road

23 Sep 2014
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The federal government is set to take over the reconstruction and expansion of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway, the Minister of Works, Mr. Mike Onolememen, said yesterday.
Onolememen said this in Lagos during a slide presentation of work on the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway by Julius Berger Plc.
The presentation took place at the company’s office complex in Ijora.
Onolememen, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) said a new project design that involved five other ECOWAS member-countries was being undertaken.
He gave the assurance that the project would soon be implemented.
The minister said a regional effort would be the best way to handle the road project.
He said he was the Chairman of a five-member Country Project Steering Committee on the project.
“We will definitely get into the construction stage; at that time, all the challenges the Lagos State Government is having on that road will be a thing of the past because we will construct that road,“ he said.
The minister directed Julius Berger to complete rehabilitation of the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway in the next eight weeks.
“Take remedial works into consideration; three months is too far and would be chaotic, considering the ember months; maybe, you should look for ways to get less construction time.
“Let us see if we can terminate the emergency works by November,“ he said.
While inspecting the road, the minister said that rigid pavement was being used to reconstruct the road to cater for new load capacity which was not envisaged when the road was built in the 1970s.
He said the federal government decided to take drastic measures to rehabilitate the road due to public outcry, following perennial gridlock on the road in June and July.
He said the completion of a trailer park in Lagos was important as it would accommodate about 500 trucks and decongest the highway.
“Given the clemency of weather, Julius Berger should be able to finish emergency repairs in another eight weeks.
“The new design takes cognizance of heavy traffic.
“Rigid pavement would be used to fight the menace of surface and underground water prevalence on the road,“ he said.
The Lagos State Government embarked on expansion of the Lagos-Badagry Road from four to 10 lanes on April, 2009.
Construction of a light rail line and a Bus Rapid Transit corridor is part of the project, to enhance tourism and economic activities on this axis.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/fg-to-take-over-expansion-of-lagos-badagry-road/189698/

This is sabotage! Now that the rail line is about to cross the lagoon and the whole world can see how wonderful the project is PDP wakes up to overturn the milk basin. Where was PDP in the last five years of securing right of way, paying compensation and spending almost $1b? How long will it take PDP to agree a regional effort with ECOWAS states struggling currently with Ebola and Ghana whose economy is suffering a meltdown? Can we expect completion of this project even by 2020 if PDP's leprous fingers are laid on it? BRF should head to the Federal High Court pronto before this campaign gimmick causes Lagos real harm. Eko o ni baje o!

And d project will now take like forever b4 completion.. I pray FG prove me wrong.

biodunid: This is sabotage! Now that the rail line is about to cross the lagoon and the whole world can see how wonderful the project is PDP wakes up to overturn the milk basin. Where was PDP in the last five years of securing right of way, paying compensation and spending almost $1b? How long will it take PDP to agree a regional effort with ECOWAS states struggling currently with Ebola and Ghana whose economy is suffering a meltdown? Can we expect completion of this project even by 2020 if PDP's leprous fingers are laid on it? BRF should head to the Federal High Court pronto before this campaign gimmick causes Lagos real harm. Eko o ni baje o!

Ghana's economy is doing just fine,huh? All countries go through spells of economic downturns and so Ghana's current situation is just normal. The economy is currently growing at nearly 7% and the country is 3rd highest recipient of foreign investment in africa. does that sound to you like a country in meltdown? your airlines fly to Ghana than they fly to any other country in the world. if Ghana is in meltdown, why do your airlines keep coming here? some 50 buses travel to Ghana every day? arrant crap!

Meanwhile:

Problems Hamper Completion of East-West Road

23 Sep 2014


Muhammad Bello in Abuja
It has again come to light that myriad of problems are responsible for the delay in the completion of the East-West Road.
These problems include poor funding, improper releases of yearly allocations, dwindling budgetary provisions and insecurity.
The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Dr. Steve Oru, who appeared before the House of Representative Committee on Niger Delta yesterday disclosed these, while reeling out the up-to-date account on the progress of work on the four sections of the road.
He also clarified the issue of the conflicting figures of N97, 743, 483, 929.26bn said to have been paid to SETRACO just as the construction firm insisted that it was paid N99bn.
According to Oru, who denied any collusion with the contractors to short-change Nigerians, the excess might have come from SURE-P.

Assuring the committee that the ministry would go back and reconcile the matter, it explained that N36, 598, 304, 621.10bn is still required to complete the four sections.
Even the Managing Director of SETRACO, Mr. Michael Hachenberg, could not explain the over N600m paid in excess to his company.
On the progress of the work, the minister hinted that Oron to Calabar is the new section that has been added to the East-West road, awarded to the China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC).
He said N349, 866, 255, 942. 76bn was the total contract sum for the four sections.
Oru explained that out of the sum, N268, 469, 689, 118. 33bn had been paid out of the N274, 726, 357, 326. 76bn while N6, 256, 668, 208.43bn is still left unpaid.
Chairman of the committee, Hon Warman Ogoriba, said the committee would give the ministry and SETRACO more time to go and reconcile their figures.
The East-West road is a flagship of the Ministry of Niger Delta with 338 kilometres lenght, cutting across the Niger axis. The road is divided into four sections and awarded to three contractors.
Sections one and two are being handled by SETRACO, while sections three and four are awarded to RCC and Gitto respectively.

Charlie, I love Ghana and am a Ghana investor. Just making the point that PDP shouldn't use an mythical 'regional effort' to dabaru what BRF is doing. Even you as a Ghanaian would appreciate not hitting traffic once you cross Seme into naija so its win-win if BRF is allowed to deliver this modern road.

PetroDolla3: Ghana's economy is doing just fine,huh? All countries go through spells of economic downturns and so Ghana's current situation is just normal. The economy is currently growing at nearly 7% and the country is 3rd highest recipient of foreign investment in africa. does that sound to you like a country in meltdown? your airlines fly to Ghana than they fly to any other country in the world. if Ghana is in meltdown, why do your airlines keep coming here? some 50 buses travel to Ghana every day? arrant crap!