On Saturday, the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, announced that the main carriageway of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway will be completed ahead of schedule on April 30. Fashola gave the assurance while inspecting the highway, accompanied by the Special Adviser to Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Works and Infrastructure, Mrs Aramide Adeyoye, the Commissioner for Transportation, Dr Frederick Oladeinde and other engineers.
During the inspection, Fashola enumerated the efforts being made to keep pace with construction speed, in spite of challenges such as high vehicular volume, the impact of bad soil, reckless driving by impatient motorists and other technical issues. He also explained interventions being made to reduce the impact of gridlock on motorists and commuters, using traffic and law enforcement agencies from both Lagos State and Ogun.
Fashola revealed that emergency measures were being adopted by the Federal Controller of Works in Lagos State, Mr Umar Bakare, to ease gridlock for travelers during the Easter holiday. He added that the contractors were working on the last stretch of six kilometers, which was the most difficult aspect to construct out of the entire 44 km of section one of the highway that spans from Ojota in Lagos to Sagamu Interchange.
According to Fashola, three teams, made up of 450 construction workers, were working simultaneously on three sections with the deployment of about 110 pieces of equipment, machines and trucks. He expressed confidence that they would meet the expected deadline and complete the project on April 30.
Fashola also addressed the issue of constant accidents on the Otedola Bridge, stating that some properties needed to be relocated in addition to some engineering solutions to curb the menace. He emphasized that the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway reconstruction/rehabilitation project would take care of disorderliness, including street trading, reckless driving and other excesses of road users.
He added that after the project is delivered, it will be easy for law enforcement and traffic regulatory agencies to enforce order. The minister affirmed that the ministry was ensuring it took care of the road infrastructure to perfect regime of law and order restored on the highway, for things to be done right.
Earlier, the Federal Controller of Works, Lagos State, Mr Umar Bakare and the Project Manager, Julius Berger, Mr Amin Alkhalili, took turns to explain progress of work and other technical details.
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