Fuel scarcity: Absence of heavy traffic exposes rot on Apapa-Oshodi Expressway

Due largely to the biting and lingering fuel crisis which has kept many vehicles at home and a lot more on queue at feeling stations, the usual heavy traffic on Apapa-Oshodi Expressway has thinned out, exposing the deep rot on the expressway on which much has been said and written to no avail.

It is frightening seeing the level of damage heavy duty vehicles and sundry characters involved in marine activities have done to this dual carriage way which is the only major route to Nigeria’s busiest seaport from where the Federal Government rakes in billions of naira revenue on monthly basis.

A long stretch of road that takes its root from Apapa Wharf and terminates at the Oworonsoki Junction, Apapa-Oshodi Expressway is one of the federal roads that were built in the 80s which, according to Ibikunle Ogunbayo, former President, Association of Consulting Engineers of Nigeria (ACEN), has outlived its lifespan and therefore, due for reconstruction.

About five years ago, a contract for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the expressway was awarded to the German construction giant, Julius Berger, and an Italian construction firm, Borini Prono. While Julius Berger has completed and delivered its own section of the expressway from Sunrise Bus-stop to Cele-Bus-stop, for inexplicable reasons, Borini Prono which is to work on the expressway from Liverpool Bridge to Beachland Estate Bridge is yet to take off.

When BusinessDay took a trip on the expressway Wednesday, it was discovered that on the Apapa bound carriage way, from the Sun-rise Bus-stop to
Coconut Bridge, and thereafter from Tin Can First Gate up to Liverpool Bridge, the expressway has literally collapsed.

The refuse dumps and the putrid odour on the service lane are enough to make tears roll down the cheeks of a Babatunde Fashola who spent eight years as governor in Lagos laboring to rid the city of filth and maintain a clean city fit for human habitation.

“It is an eyesore, really”, a middle-aged man who identified himself simply as Ismaila, told BusinessDay on the expressway beside the Ibru Jetty, pointing at the odd and stinking mixture of ‘one million’ pure water sachets, urine, faeces, fuel, water and other disused items such as tyres and empty cartons.

Besides the filth and odour, there were ditches and craters on the expressway which had been covered all these while by the trailers and tankers parked almost permanently on the expressway, worsening the situation as these vehicles drip oil that have weakened those portions they covered.