Umahi: Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway Already Serving Purpose, to Be Tolled after Inauguration

The Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway is already serving its purpose as the federal government intensifies efforts to complete its Section One, the Minister of Works, Senator Dave Umahi, has said.

Umahi remarked yesterday during an inspection tour of the project in Lagos.

He said the road would be tolled once it is completed and inaugurated.

“I am very eager to see how we can fully complete this Section One by April this year, so that we can have it fully commissioned – a stretch of Section One and a significant part of Section Two.

“I must emphasise that this road is going to be tolled by the contractor; it is part of the package.

“I will be inviting the contractor to give us the programme. I don’t want to open this permanently to traffic and then start discussing tolling.

“The contractor has to give us the programme and begin to build infrastructure before the end of April, so we have to toll this route as soon as we complete it and as soon as it is commissioned,” he said.

He said that despite the challenges, the contractor handling the project, Hitech Construction Company Ltd., was performing well and committed to meeting deadlines.

“We are terribly challenged because of the realignment that we have encountered.

“What we are witnessing in Kilometre 34 has nothing to compare with what we had in Kilometre 20, where we had a pit of over 25 metres deep, and Hitech was able to remove them and then loaded them with lumps and sharp sand.

“I continue to thank Hitech. Lagosians and other Nigerians have been enjoying the road, and I have seen the reason behind the dreams of over 27 years,” Umahi said.

‎He said he would inspect the project monthly to ensure the President would fully inaugurate it by the end of April.

According to Umahi, President Bola Tinubu might also inaugurate about 50% of Section Two of the highway project in April.

“We have not been here since we temporarily opened it for traffic, and we are delighted that the coastal road is serving ‎its purpose.

Regarding the impact of challenges (following the realignment of the highway) on the project budget, the minister said there would be no room to increase it further.

“We have concluded the re-measurements, and we are a country with a lot of other issues, and we have gone to the Bureau of Public Procurement; so, there is no opening to increase the project further.

“We have a total of N170 billion increments on the project as a result of this and the diversion of the projects to save those high-rise buildings at the beginning of the project, the shore protection we encountered, and then a lot of refuse dumps that were evacuated – some up to 15 metres deep and stretching over many kilometres.

“Hitech has to be at this risk, and that is part of its contribution in building our nation,” he said.

Earlier, the Federal Controller of Works in Lagos, Mr Olufemi Dare, told the Minister that Hitech was encountering challenges at Channaige 34.

“We encountered another intense swampy area here, as we can see. We have dredged here and there from 34 to 37, 38,” the minister said.

He, however, said the contractor handling the project was on top of the situation.‎

“The dredging operation is ongoing to fast-track the process, and whenever we finalise, and we push the sand on top of the water level, we are continuing with sharp sand as well as a stone base.