After many years of delay, construction works on the long expected 4th Mainland Bridge that will link the Lagos Island and Mainland will likely commence before the end of this year, as Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu says all contractual terms are now being finalised.
The cost of the bridge, BusinessDay learns, is now put at $2.5 billion, up from an earlier estimate of $2.2 billion as of September 2020.
The 38-kilometre project with its road component is designed to connect the Island through Lekki, Langbasa, and Baiyeku towns, across the lagoon to Itamaga in Ikorodu part. On completion, it will be the longest bridge in Africa.
Speaking yesterday on “Sanwo-Olu: 731 Days and Beyond, the State of the State Address” to mark his second year in office, Sanwo-Olu said his administration was at the final stage of signing the project, which would be delivered via Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) arrangement.
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The governor told a capacity audience at the State House, venue of the address, which included media executives, top government functionaries and traditional rulers, that the project was presently undergoing its final technical processes.
Speaking on what his administration has done in other areas, including the transportation sector in the last two years, the governor said steps had been taken to address the project traffic congestion such as expansion and improvement of road junctions and roundabout, installation of traffic signalisation while several roads and bridges had been delivered across the state.
He also assured that the Red and Blue Line rail system would be delivered within the next two years, as the rolling stocks had been ordered, to fully achieve the inter-modal transportation master plan of Lagos
On the waterway, he noted, “We’re building 15 terminals concurrently in different parts of the state. We have in Liverpool, Ebute Ero, Ibeshe, Ajah. We have two in Badagry, and several others. Six or seven should be completed before the end of this year, aimed at integrating the waterway into the inter-modal transport master plan of the state.
“We’re dredging and putting buoys on the navigational system so that people can know how to navigate. We’re also building a Command and Control Centre where we’re going to have cameras to monitor our waterways. We have bought what we called Search and Rescue Boats for the Lagos State Waterways Authority – LASWA, so that people can be saved on the waterways.”
On security, he said, “We have enhanced and improved our Control and Command Centre,” adding that in addition to recruiting more Neighbour Watchers to support the police.
“We have been advocating for state police. We will continue to be an advocate for it because we believe it is the way to go and the right thing to do.
“We are planning to further recruit more people under our Neighbourhood Watch, which is a strong information gathering network initiative that is helping our entire security architecture,” adding that more vehicles and other security equipment would be purchased for security agencies operating in the state.
