Also speaking at the briefing, Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, said the cabinet gave approval for the dredging of the Escravos and the Warri Seaport and the replacement of bad navigational aids at the cost of N13 billion. Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola said his ministry presented three memos at the meeting, and got approval of about N56 billion naira for the rehabilitation of roads.
“One was for Baban Lamba-Sharam Road in Plateau state for the construction of 44.625 kilometers for N19.392 billion. The second was for the 81 kilometers Lagos-Ota-Abeokuta. That road was first awarded in year 2000 and it has since been left uncompleted because they want no budgetary provisions for it.
This administration in trying to move this contractor to site stated the revision of the rate. So the revised rate were brought to council today and a revision of N22 billion was approved for the 81 kilometers road, bringing the total contract price to N56.701 billion.”
Fashola said the the third approval for his ministry was for the Section Four of the Enugu Port Harcourt Expressway. According to him, the contractor there “needed to change the design because of the storm water drainage needs and the high water tables there so that the road does not fail.”
He said revision of the scope of work to include retaining side lanes and also drainage facilities in the sum of N6.309 billion was approved. Second Niger Bridge At 44.6% Construction Stage. The construction work at the second Niger Bridge would soon be completed as the work already done hits 44.6 per cent.
The Federal controller of works in Anambra, Mr Innocent Alumonah, confirmed the progress of work on the bridge that is linking Asaba in Delta and Onitsha in Anambra. He said that construction firm, Julius Berger, has also accomplished about 85 piles of 914 millimeter in diameter in different axis, the Leadership reported.
“The contract was split into phases. Phases 1 to Phase 3 have been successfully accomplished and we are now on early works in phase 4. Part of this early works phase 4 forms part of the main contract. So far, the 1.2 kilometer sand filling of the road at the Asaba end has reached the height of 2.2 meters out of the expected five meters.
At the Onitsha end, we have done a lot of sand filling of embankments to a reasonable stage. We have done a lot of culverts as well. In all, we have achieved around 44.6 per cent of phase of early work stage 4,” Alumonah said. He said the contract for the early work stage four was awarded in October 2016 while work commenced in November 2017.
According to him, an advance payment of N2.166 billion was made to the contractor out of the contract sum of N14.466 billion for the early work phase four. He said the early work stage four project had a life span of nine months starting from November 2017 to July 2018, noting that there would not be any interruption between stage four and the main contract.
He said the second Niger Bridge was no longer a political issue as President Muhammadu Buhari had demonstrated commitment to realizing the completion of the project.
“The bridge is a link road to all parts of the country not just the South East. It is not a bridge only for the southern part of the country. It is for all Nigerians,” he said.
The controller noted that the continuous maintenance of the existing Niger bridge built in 1965 was a demonstration of the federal government’s commitment.
He said the stress on the existing bridge compelled the federal government to build a second Niger bridge. The second Niger Bridge, awarded to Julius Berger Nig. Ltd, was envisaged to reduce the load and pressure on the existing Niger Bridge.
He said the issue of compensation of the affected people had been handled by the federal government to a reasonable level and had paved way for work at kilometers 23 to 31.
Residents of the area have praised Buhari’s fulfilment of his promise to construct the bridge.
