The Federal Ministry of Works has pre-qualified seven bidders for the reconstruction and expansion of Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, raising hopes for its re-award very soon.
The bidding process for its reconstruction started with request for tender by the ministry and which eight construction firms responded to and were evaluated. Thereafter, they proceeded to the other stage which included defence of their claims to ascertain their competences and technical depth.
Though the names of the seven firms could not be ascertained, ministry sources told BusinessDay that the list of the seven had been sent to the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) for its “no objection certificate”.
The bureau is expected to forward the list to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for ratification and award.
Eight construction firms tendered for the project which on completion will ameliorate the sufferings of road users on the major road linking Lagos to the hinterlands.
The 125-kilometre road, arguably the busiest road in the country, was constructed over 30 years ago but now in deplorable condition due to lack of maintenance over the years.
Its reconstruction was earlier concessioned to Bi-Courtney Highway Services Ltd but was later terminated December last year owing to undue delay and breach of concession agreement.
The road was resurfaced and patched last December as part of the roads in the South West identified and recovered for rehabilitation under the Operation Safe Passage of the Ministry of Works between December 2012 and January 2013. Others in the South West zone are the Ibadan-Ilorin Road and the Apapa-Oshodi Road.
Two sections of the road were rehabilitated and patched during the December period to ameliorate the sufferings of Nigerians especially for huge vehicular traffic during the yuletide.
In total, 32 roads along the federal roads network from the six geographical zones of the country were identified and recovered within the period. They were worked upon by the ministry under the Operation Safe Passage.
From the North Central zone are Abuja-Lokoja-Okene Road (two sections); Ilorin-Jebba-Mokwa-Tegina-Kaduna Road (four sections); Suleja-Minna Road (one section); Lafia-Makurdi-Aliade-Oturkpo-9th Mile Road (four sections) and the emergency reconstruction of three collapsed bridges/culverts in Plateau State.
In the North East zone were the reinstatement of washout and construction of double 3mx3m culvert at km7+850-km8+000 (Longvel Bridge) along Shendam-Yelwa-Ibi-Taraba State border in Plateau State and the replacement of three culvert in Jalingo-Kona-Lau Road.
The roads identified in the North West zone are Kano-Zaria-Kaduna Road, and the Kano-Bichi-Katsina-Jibia Niger border road.
In the South East zone were Enugu-Okigwe-Umuahia-Aba-Port Harcourt Road and the Aba-Ikot Ekpene Road.
Those captured under the programme in South South zone include Odukpani-Itu Road, Okene-Auchi-Benin Road and Irrua-Ilushi Road.
BADEJO ADEMUYIWA, Abuja
