FG plans to inaugurate 30km of Coastal highway in May – Umahi

David Umahi, the minister of works, has said that the Federal Government is working very hard to ensure that 30 of 70 kilometres that make up the first phase of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway is completed and inaugurated by President Bola Tinubu in May this year.

Umahi disclosed this at an elaborate Stakeholders’ engagement on the Coastal road in Lagos. He stressed that Hitech Nigeria Limited, the contractor handling the construction of the 700-kilometre highway, is working hard to achieve the 30km target by May.

The Coastal highway is, arguably, the most controversial road infrastructure in Nigeria today that traverses nine Coastal States, starting in Victoria Island, Lagos and terminating in Calabar, the Cross River State capital.

Despite the controversy around its enormous construction cost estimated at $15 trillion, which makes it the most expensive road infrastructure in the history of Nigeria, the Coastal highway is, according to the minister, not just a road project, but also an investment that promises ease of doing business and growth of the country’s tourism.

It is expected that when the 30-kilometre stretch is completed, it will impact positively on Lagos residents, especially those living within Lekki-Ajah corridor as they will be spending less time and money commuting to and from Victoria Island—the state’s main economic hub.

Umahi said that the contractor had already achieved 20 kilometres and would have gone farther than that, but for some challenges on its way, including structures built illegally on the designated path of the highway.

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Others, he said, are unexpected complications that arose along 10 kilometres stretch of the highway where years of refuse dumping had compromised the soil integrity that had to be excavated, evacuated and replaced. He added that there was also the challenge of rerouting Section One to avoid mass demolitions along the original gazetted corridor.

The minister assured, however, that the first 20 kilometres from Chainage Zero down to Chainage 20 would be ready for The President to inaugurate in May, and another 10 kilometres from Eleko Junction, coming towards Chainage 37, would also be ready for inauguration.

Earlier, Bede Obioha, director of Federal Highways, Bridges, and Design at the Federal Ministry of Works, had disclosed that N15 billion out of the N18 billion meant for the first phase of compensation to owners of demolished properties along Section 1 of the highway had been disbursed.

Obioha said that, for Section 1, which stretches 47.7km, the quantum of compensation already put together was in excess of N18 billion, adding that, so far, the contractor had managed to disburse over N15 billion.

“Section 2 is being put together and as soon as all is done and necessary, we will now make the figure known as well. You will agree with me that we have been very transparent in all we are doing and engaging you as we get along,” the director said.

The minister added that everyone on the compensation list of Section 1 would have been paid in 10 days, pointing out, however, that his hands were tied under the law for satisfactory compensation of all those affected.

On section two of the project, Umahi highlighted the integration of the Lekki Free Zone into the project, adding that the highway would pass in front of the Dangote Refinery, necessitating the construction of an 80-metre span bridge to facilitate seamless truck movement.

The minister also announced that construction contracts for section three, totalling 65 kilometres, have been awarded and will be flagged off in the coming weeks.

“We have awarded section three, three A in Cross River, three B in Akwa Ibom and that is a total of 65 kilometres by two. By next week, or upper week, we will go there to officially have it flagged off for construction,” he said.