Abuja – March 19, 2024 – Viewpoint Housing News.
A warning was issued by the minister of works, Mr David umahi, to the contractors working on various federal road projects that the government would not allow variation arising from delays or slow down the pace of work once mobilization has taken place.
Consequently, he urged contractors to meet the deadline.
It is not surprising that Umahi’s warning is linked to the general inflation rate and volatile foreign exchange issues, which have increased the high cost of construction materials, logistics, and labour.
The minister stated this during the official handover of the first phase of Lagos – Calabar Coastal Highway, made up of 47.47 kilometers dual carriageway, to Hitech Construction Company Ltd in Lagos.
The highway, measuring 700 kilometres, spanning nine states with two spurs leading to the northern states, is to be constructed in concrete pavement.
He, however, commended Hitech Construction Company Nigeria Ltd for being reputable for quality and speedy delivery of jobs.
He acknowledged their efforts in starting work immediately after the contract was awarded.
He said: “They have completed some filling of 1.3 kilometres from the day the project was awarded to them. It shows the speed they are going to deploy to this project.
“Within a couple of weeks, we awarded the project to them, they mobilized a lot of dredging equipment, and you can see that they have recovered 1.3 kilometres of section one of the phase.”
The minister , who also visited project sites at the Queen’s Drive Ikoyi, the Third Mainland Bridge’s top deck, the underwater, the Iddo Bridge, Eko bridge and Carter Bridge expressed the determination of the Federal Government to carry out a comprehensive rehabilitation of the bridges.
He said the bridges are critical links between the nainland and the Island of Lagos, the economic hub of the country.
“These repairs are expected to cover not only the top of the bridge but also the under bridge works.
“At the Third Mainland Bridge, we have three or four critical elements to be rehabilitated. The first one is the deck, and the deck is about 11 kilometres. That is dual carriageway, including the ramps, and it has been done by CCECC. They have done very beautiful jobs, but we have not concluded.
“Before the end of March, we will be concluding the asphalt milling and the reasphalting,” the minister said.
He further said “But that is not all our commitment there. We are installing the guardrails, we are replacing the lights with solar light, we are going to put some decorative lights too, and then we are going to put CCTV camera both on top and under the bridge to check insecurity and illegal mining of sand, which is causing scouring on the piles and the pipe bits.
“The second job is that some sections of the slab are deflected, and so what we have done is to get an expert to understudy the level of deflection. That’s the tendons of the slab that deflected. And so we are going to cut open the slabs, enter and then look at it, scoop it, and then reinstate the tendons of the slab. There’s nothing to worry about. It’s been done at Eko Bridge by Buildwell. So this one is not a threat to us at all.”
