Coastal highway: Umahi assures of public engagement to drive project

David Umahi, the minister of works, has assured that the federal government is committed to public engagement to drive Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project and to deliver on its infrastructure promises.

The minister gave this assurance after he met with the management of Lekki Free Zone Company and the Lagos Free Zone Company in Lagos at the weekend.

Umahi said after the fruitful engagement, the federal government promised to pay for any property of the Lekki Free Zone that may be affected by the coastal highway.

“We came for stakeholders’ engagement on three routes that the Federal Government is constructing within the Lekki free zone. One is the Dangote tax credits, that is section one, together with the additional access routes,” the minister said.

He disclosed that Lekki Free Zone made a couple of demands. They want flyovers across their properties along the coastal highway and government has approved two with ramps to further assist them to evacuate their goods.

“We also talked about the discharge of water, with particular reference to the fact that the coastal highway is about four metres above the average sea level, and it’s also about two metres above the ground level.

We have four points of discharge as designated by the master plan of this Lekki free zone. So we are leveraging on one of them to discharge to the lagoon as marked by the master plan of the Lekki free zone,” the minister said.

He assured that solar light will be provided for Dangote road and Lagos Free Zone axis, adding that two interchanges will also be constructed along the tax credit road.

Bolatito Ajibode, deputy managing director of Lekki Free Zone commended the Federal Government for making efforts to develop such a huge road infrastructure.

Ajibode said the Lagos-Calabar Coastal highway is going to be a good attraction for all its investors because it is a major business enabler for the Lekki Free Zone as good road network is key to any business.

She hoped that when the road is fully completed, the ports within that axis will see a lot of business activities.

On her part, Adesuwa Ladoja, managing director / chief executive officer of Lagos Free Zone (LFZ) commended the minister for his active role in communicating with all the free zones in this area to make sure that they are carried along with the plan.

She pointed out that the Lekki Economic Area is about16,500 hectares and has seen so many infrastructure developments

“Taking real care to make sure that there’s good evacuation for all the cargo that will be in this area shows the commitment of this administration to ease of doing business and the continuous industrialisation of Nigeria,” she said.

Ladoja thanked the Minister for taking business owners seriously enough to engage with them at every point in time.

“We are very grateful and we look forward to the completion of the roads so that we can all continue to enjoy the benefits,” she said.

Umahi hinted that Dangote Group has extended its full payment to the Lagos state government for onward compensation to affected property owners as part of the federal government’s efforts to remove the bottlenecks hindering the road construction at the Lekki Free Zone corridor.

He said the payment was made under the federal government tax credit arrangement with Dangote.

The Minister stated this on Friday while inspecting the second phase of the Lekki free trade area leading to Eleko road, assuring that all affected property owners would be settled before any demolition takes place.

Umahi said the 54-kilometre service lane was another addition to the ongoing project which would be commissioned before May 29, 2025 ahead of the second anniversary of the President Bola Tinubu administration.

He added that the government was satisfied with the pace of work and applauded the speed at which the contractor was handling the road.

Umahi maintained that going for the concrete pavement instead of asphalt laying was because of the durability and maintenance of the road.

He said Dangote has paid N10 billion to the Lagos State government to sort out the issue of compensation to the affected property owners along the route.