Dave Umahi, Minister of Works, says the Lagos-Calabar Coastal highway project has not been realigned.
Umahi spoke on Tuesday at the flag-off of the reconstruction
of the 376-kilometre Lambata-Bida-Mokwa-Makera-Kontagora highway in Niger
State.
The minister had on Monday said President Bola Tinubu
directed that the Lagos-Calabar Coastal highway be rerouted through the
existing East-West Road from Ondo into Edo State.
Umahi said the directive was intended to prevent the
construction of a new alignment along the corridor.
“Divert, do not do any new alignments. Pass the coastal
highway through the existing East-West road,” the minister quoted Tinubu as
saying.
He added that the decision was also informed by flooding
along the East-West road, particularly around the Ughelli axis in Delta state.
According to him, the road was constructed before the
effects of climate change were adequately anticipated, while recent flooding
had raised concerns about its vulnerability.
Umahi said the plan was to raise sections of the East-West
road by about two metres above the existing level and anticipated flood levels.
Speaking at the flag-off of the Niger state road project,
the minister said “mischief makers” had given Nigerians the wrong impression
about his recent remarks on the coastal highway project.
“The Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway is 750 kilometres. What
the president did is add 400 kilometres so that the entire East-West Road that
has been submerged due to climate change will be reconstructed and reintegrated
into the Coastal Highway,” he said.
The minister said design work was ongoing on the Edo,
Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers sections of the project.
He added that construction was ongoing on section 5 in Akwa
Ibom, sections 3A and 3B in the state and parts of Cross River, as well as in
Ondo and Ogun states.
“There’s no realignment of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal road.
What we did was an addition,” Umahi said.
Providing an update on the wider Lagos-Calabar coastal
highway project, Umahi said section one, a 47.47-kilometre stretch from
Victoria Island in Lagos, had been completed and is ready for commissioning.
He said the dual pavement on section two, covering 55
kilometres and terminating at the Lagos-Ogun boundary, is expected to be
completed the following month.
According to him, at the Calabar end, sections 3A and 3B,
covering 65 kilometres, had reached more than 30 percent completion.
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