By Adedapo Adesanya
The federal government has set a deadline of May 2025 for the completion of the first phase of the ongoing Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.
The Minister of Works, Mr David Umahi, disclosed this while inspecting an evacuated but now refilled section of the road that had served as a refuse dumpsite.
Mr Umahi said that the construction company was reliable and would achieve one kilometre of concrete pavement in a day, hence the stipulated duration of the project would still be attained.
According to him, squatters along the corridors of the site will soon be dislodged for failure to comply voluntarily.
“I am very happy with the work and people have been asking me that we say this 47 kilometres will be commissioned by May 29, and they are counting months for me, and they are counting months for Hitech.
“But I have no fear about what Hitech is doing. First, it is good quality work, the most difficult aspect of this is settlement of the sand,” the former Governor of Ebonyi State said.
On his part, the Federal Controller of Works in Lagos, Mrs Olukorede Kesha, explained that evacuation of the refuse dumpsite had slowed down the construction work.
Mrs Kesha, however, assured that the impact of the refuse evacuation would be insignificant on the duration of the project.
“This place where we are standing, we encountered a huge deposit of refuse here; As you can see here, the contractor was asked to excavate and evacuate it.
“In some places, we had as deep as five to six meters of refuse, and the place where we are standing now was just at the formation level, so we are still going to fill on top of this.
“So, it’s an additional cost because it was not really envisaged. So, this refuse here is going to be evacuated and taken to as far as Epe or Ojota.
“So, we are here to let you see, just the way we have written to you in Abuja to seek your approval for the contractor to start the evacuation so that the work can continue in earnest,” Kesha said.
The 700km Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project is designed to connect Lagos to Cross River and will pass through the coastal states of Ogun, Ondo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, and Akwa Ibom, before culminating in Cross River.
The 700km Lagos-Calabar coastal road will be constructed at N15 trillion, and a kilometre of the road will cost approximately N4 billion.
