The federal government Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu said it has taken immediate intervention on some of the inherited ongoing highways and bridge projects across the 6 Geo-Political Zones that are on the verge of imminent deterioration.
Minister of Works, Engr. David Umahi, made this disclosure during a press briefing held at the conference hall of the ministry in Abuja, yesterday.
Umahi was Flanked by the Minister of State for Works, Bello Muhammad Goronyo, and the Permanent Secretary of the ministry , Olufunsho Olusesan Adebiyi, gave a detailed insight into the conditions of the road and bridge projects being handled on emergency basis.
He noted that the President had directed immediate action to address critical sections of the Highways and Bridge projects that require emergency intervention and this necessitated the decision of the Ministry of Works to articulate the conditions of such bridges and roads that are in dire need of repairs.
According to get minister, In the South West, he listed 3rd Mainland bridge, Carter bridge, Iddo bridge, Lagos-Ibadan bridges, Lagos – Badagry road, Ibadan – Ilesa, Ilesa – Akure-Benin, Ibadan – Oyo, Oyo – Ogbomoso –Ilorin roads as projects that needed emergency intervention.
He said, “Among other emergency jobs that you’ve been seeing in Lagos, we are having a very deep conversation on the Third Mainland Bridge and Carter Bridge. And it’s a very deep and concerned conversation. And we have tabled it to the Federal Executive Council and the Chairman in Council, Mr. President, directed that the Ministry should articulate the exact situation and bring it to the Federal Executive Council for deliberation.
“So we won’t be able to say much on that until we have done that exercise as directed by the Federal Executive Council, and we’ll let you know. But be assured that the Third Mainland Bridge is safe for light vehicles, but not for heavy vehicles. We have closed it against heavy vehicles, and the Carter Bridge also has issues that Mr. President is going to address as soon as our memo is completed.
“We also have a problem with the heavy trucks that are loading beyond our headrooms in our flyovers. We have a couple of them between Lagos and Ibadan Bridges completed in the last administration. Some of them have been knocked down. The beams are knocked down, and the beams are the structural elements that carry the slab that are carrying the vehicular loads.
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“And so where the beam is not there, it means that it’s not safe. So, for some of such bridges, we have closed down against vehicular movements. And we are very concerned.
“The Iddo Odo bridge was burned down during the past administration. So we are on it. It’s an ongoing project through Julius Berger.”
In the North East, he said, “We have a couple of projects that have been sent to us by the NSA today. In Bauchi, we have repair works between chainage 25 and chainage 26. That’s Azare. That is procured. We have about four washouts in that Azare. That is on the long stretch of Kano to Maiduguri, which has five sections. Section one is terminated from Dantata and Sawoe, 100.9 kilometres. And so it’s been re-awarded to the Triacta.
“Funding will be a challenge, but work is ongoing. We have section five, which is at Maiduguri, handled by CCECC. Work is ongoing. We have been assisting them with SUKUK. And I’m sure that we’re going to find a new source of funds. But the first section that has been washed out between Bauchi and Jigawa has already been procured.
“We called the Triacta, which is very close there. He’s going to put multiple culverts and raise the road above the flood level, a minimum of one metre above the carriageway, and put some retaining walls so that we’ll be safe there. Unfortunately, the rain has come, but I commend the President who has released some funds to tackle this. That’s about four locations.
In Gombe, we have Triacta that is working and has been there. And we also encouraged Triacta with some SUKUK funding and some budgetary provisions. And we’re doing quite a lot of work between Gombe and Bauchi roads. So, work is ongoing. And we’ve almost finalized the fourth legacy project of Mr. President, which is 439 kilometres by six lanes. It was done before, designed on asphalt.
“But now the President directed that for durability and conformity with other legacy projects, we should do it on concrete. That project is taking off from Akwanga to Jos to Gombe. We’re also doing the road from Gombe to Bauchi.”
In the North West, he said that actions were being taken to ensure that an intervention be made to the Kebbe bridge in Sokoto State and other major projects that needed emergency intervention including the NNPC projects within the zone.
“In the North West, we have the Kebbe Bridge in Sokoto State. So we’ve also directed that work should commence. So what we have told you are the emergency projects that you may be coming across in social media, and to clarify that Mr. President has directed immediate action in all the locations because the chain is as strong as the weakest link. If any section of this road or bridges gets cut, then the movement is impaired. So you won’t be able to move from one point to the other.”
In North Central, he said, “We have the Keffi Bridge, the flyover that was knocked, and three people were killed by overboarding vehicle. We have settled with the families of the persons that were killed and that’s through the man that did the killings. We have visited there, and we’ve seen what the problem is to rectify it. Work is already ongoing. We procured CGC under emergency conditions, since they are working at FCT so that they can start.
“It will involve the replacement of the beam that is knocked down. It will involve the chiseling out of the shoulder and part of the carriageway. It will involve replacement, and then to do integrity tests on the remaining beams that were damaged, and then the bridge will be restored.
“On Katsina-Ala road, we just got approval from Mr. President yesterday to re-scope the project, review the project, and have it completely executed. I was a very happy person because that’s been giving us a lot of concern. And we’ll try with the little resources to do palliative on that project.”
In the South East, he stated, “The most important route in South East is the Enugu – Onitsha road, and that was awarded by the past administration, 108 kilometres by 2, and it was awarded for N202 billion to MTN under Tax Credit. But at the time we came on board, they had exhausted only N50 billion, and so we had to descope the project. And so we took out 72 kilometres of the project and awarded it to SKCC for N150 billion. Work is ongoing there.
And so what we have done is to direct on emergency basis for SKCC and MTN to move immediately to the sections of the roads that are very bad, and within the scope of their work, do palliative, so that no section of that road will be unmotorable from Enugu down to Onitsha.”
He urged the people of South East to double their support for the re-election of President Tinubu, noting that he has demonstrated enough goodwill to Ndigbo through many infrastructural investments of the Federal Government in South East.
In South South, he noted a number of roads that would be done through PPP and those for emergency intervention, including Benin – Asaba road. He said, “We have the 1st Niger Bridge to the summit junction. That is about 11.5 kilometres by two. We have China Harbour and the Atland on that project, 225 kilometres from Benin to Asaba, but not connecting the summit junction to the bridge.
And so on that PPP, we gave it to African Plus, and so they’re doing it on PPP. They have started work, but the other section, 11.5 by two, China Harbour, felt that it’s small for them, so we have, on that emergency, given it to Atland. And the President has also released some money to start the project.”
He noted that under the NNPCL projects, the North has 53% of that project, and the south has 47% of that project, which was not fairly distributed, because a place like South East has only 4%, and South West only 5%. But notwithstanding, Mr. President decided to continue with the entire project.
He described the trending video decrying the collapse of shoulders of the Lagos – Calabar Coastal Highway as an orchestration of uninformed critics who darken counsel without knowledge.
This is contained in a statement issued on Thursday by the Minister’s Special Adviser on Media, Orji Uchenna Orji and made available to journalists in Abakaliki.
He placed on record that the section being referred to is still work in progress noting that the crack was not a structural failure but a normal occurrence that happened on a sand- filled section of the shoulder (not the carriageway) because of rains.
He said. “Absolutely, it’s not an issue at all. That section has not been completed. Section 1 is 47.47 kilometres by 6 lanes. And so you have the main carriageway, you have the shoulder. And so where you notice the crack is the sand-filled section of the shoulder, not the carriageway, with stone base, where we are not presently working on. Because to work on the shoulder, we have to bury the cable ducts.
“We also have to put underground drainage. People even say there is no drainage there. That thing is not a structural failure at all. Whether it is a stone base you are using, or sand, or laterite, it is bound to happen. The moment water is pounding on it, it has to erode. But you can go from Ahmadu Bello, where we have completed, and you find out whether you find such a thing, because we have closed every aspect of the sand-filled or stone base filled areas.”
