On Wednesday, the Federal Government approved an increase in the contract amount for the old Enugu-Anambra road project as well as a total of N23.33 billion for surface repair of the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos State.
After this week’s Federal Executive Council meeting at the Presidential Villa, the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, gave reporters a briefing at the State House. He stated the 24-month rehabilitation would span 11 kilometers, including interchanges, ramps, and crucial links.
According to him, the action is consistent with Executive Order 11, which was issued by President Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retired) in April 2022 and gave the nation’s national maintenance program legal standing.
The statement was made just two weeks after the Lagos State Government announced plans to renovate the 32-year-old bridge to fix the substructure and failing and peeled asphaltic docking.
Fashola countered that there wouldn’t be any overlap in efforts.
According to the former governor of Lagos State, the FG would handle surface maintenance to repair potholes and replace missing guard rails while the state’s Public Works Corporation will concentrate on the bridge’s functional structure, such as the underwater piles.
He said, “Council approved a new contract for the maintenance of the pavement of the third mainland bridge and this was approved in the sum of N6.28bn for 24 months.
“I have been asked about the works done on the bridge before. The works concentrate mainly on the bridge’s substructure, the underwater piles, the pile caps, and the replacement of the expansion joints and the bearings.
“These are maintenance works that are critical to the structural integrity of the bridge. What we’re dealing with now is different. It is the driving surface and also the aesthetics. Some of the rails have been stolen. Some of the pleats are misaligned at the routes that lead you on and off the bridge.”
Fashola stated that no extended closures are envisaged throughout the construction.
The Council also authorized an N17.05 billion adjustment to the contract for the old Enugu-Onitsha road’s construction, which now totals N48.99 billion.
