Kingsley U N Chikwendu —
Buildwell Plants and Equipment Industries, the contractors in charge of repair works at Eko Bridge, yesterday said the reopening of the bridge may not come soon or before next year May/June, raising concerns among motorists.
This entails that the bridge which had been closed to traffic last March will no longer be reopened in December this year as earlier promised by the Nigerian government, dashing expectations.
The implication of this is that, motorists are either to brace for more stress or take alternative routes and endure longer travel time to their destinations.
The firm’s Director of Constructions, George Mohanna while speaking during inspection conducted by the Nigerian Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola said completion of repair works at the bridge was tied to the availability of components to be used.
Mohanna further drew the attention of the Minister that the initial components imported for the bridge repair were brought for emergency purposes. The first of such he said was Agbonpon Bridge, after the fire incident on it in March this year. The second is the Ijora-Olopa axis of the bridge after the latest fire outbreak that occurred last week. “We will see how to fast-track importation of bridge components”, Mohanna assured.
The Minister revealed that the federal government was reaching out to the Lagos State government on modalities to evacuate all illegal occupants operating under the bridges in the state.
“We are reaching out to the Lagos State government, telling them that they have our support,” Fashola, said.
He lamented that money that would have been deployed to provide additional infrastructure for Lagos was now being deployed for the emergency repairs of the bridge.
He charged Lagosians to take a collective action against the frequent fire outbreak so that such would not happen again in the state. “We are at a point of tough laws; we don’t want to see trading that endangers other people’s lives,” Fashola said, describing the incident as “one fire too many.”
The minister warned Lagosians to stop trading under the bridges as such action is responsible for the collective pains currently being experienced across the state with the closure of the bridge.
“Under the bridges are not market places. When we shut the bridge, it was because we could no longer take the risk”, Fashola said.
