The federal government says it has begun intervention on
some inherited highways and bridge projects across the six geopolitical zones
that are on the verge of imminent deterioration.
Minister of Works, David Umahi, who disclosed this during a
press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday, gave a detailed insight into the
conditions of the road and bridge projects being handled on an emergency basis.
His Special Adviser on Media, Orji Uchenna Orji, in a
statement, said the Minister noted that in the South West, the 3rd Mainland
bridge, Carter bridge, Iddo bridge, Lagos-Ibadan bridges, Lagos – Badagry road,
Ibadan – Ilesa, Ilesa – Akure-Benin, Ibadan – Oyo, Oyo – Ogbomoso –Ilorin roads
were the projects that need urgent intervention.
“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 President, directed the
Ministry to 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 headroom in our flyovers. We have a couple of them between
Lagos and Ibadan Bridges, completed in the last administration. Some of the
beams have been knocked down. The beams are the structural elements that carry
the slab, which carries the vehicular loads.
“And so where the beam is not there, it means that it’s not
safe. So, for some of these bridges, we have closed them down against vehicular
traffic. 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 at 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 finalised 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 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 an overboarding
vehicle. We have settled with the families of the persons who were killed, and
that’s through the man who did the killings. We have visited there, and we’ve
seen what the problem is and how 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 was
knocked down. It will involve the chiselling out of the shoulder and part of
the carriageway. It will involve replacement, followed by integrity tests on
the remaining beams that were damaged, and then the bridge will be restored.
“On the 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
the 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 an 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.”
In South South, he noted a number of roads that would be
done through PPP and those for emergency intervention, including the 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, in 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 places like the South East have only 4%, and the South
West only 5%. But that notwithstanding, Mr. President decided to continue with
the entire project.
He described the trending video decrying the collapse of the
shoulders of the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway as an orchestration of
uninformed critics who darken counsel without knowledge.
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 happens on a sand-filled section of the shoulder (not
the carriageway) because of the 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 a
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 in 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.”
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