As reconstruction work progresses steadily on the 2-kilometre Apapa-Wharf Road being resurfaced with Dangote Cement concrete model, AG-Dangote Construction Company Limited, the contractor handling the project, has reassured motorists and residents of the port city that the road will be ready this July, at least, on the concrete side. This means the stress on the road would soon be over.
Aliko Dangote, President and Chief Executive of Dangote Group, had, during an inspection tour of the road project a couple of months ago, assured that the road would be ready in June, hoping that the delivery of the project would ameliorate the daily suffering on that road.
“We will double our efforts to complete the project on schedule, that is, latest by the end of June; we will surprise you because this is going to be the first time a contractor will deliver a road project on schedule or even before the scheduled date”, the Africa’s richest man assured.
Dangote described the reconstruction of the road being undertaken by Dangote Group in collaboration with Flour Mill Nigeria and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) as a special PPP arrangement, saying it was part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) as corporate citizens concerned about the poor state of the road.
Billions of naira is lost every day in Nigeria because of poor state of roads infrastructure in the country. Paul Gbadedo, group managing director, estimates that the economy of Apapa is over N20 billion a day and that, effectively, is what is lost to traffic gridlock in the premier port city in Nigeria.
“To allow this kind of situation (poor road condition) to be impacting on that economy means a lot of money is being lost on daily basis not only by businesses, but also by the country”, Gbadedo said.
At the moment, work is upbeat on the road and officials of AG-Dangote told journalists on inspection of the project last week that, in spite of the huge challenges they face from surging traffic and rains, all the concrete work on the road would be completed this month, disclosing that whereas the outbound lane of the road was completed, the in-bound lane was 75 percent done.
According to Jimoh Tunde Olatayo, the project manager, the road could have been completed earlier but there were some constraints, particularly some gas pipelines which had to be relocated and that made them lose over 90 days of the project timeline.
“We continue to assure every one of our commitment and determination to finish this road on schedule. We are heavily mobilized on site in order to finish the project. We have adopted two-pronged approach to doing the work. Actively, by the end of this month, we will complete this project”, Olatunbosun Kalejaiye, the company’s project director, assured.
In the same vein, the company which is also reconstructing the Obajana-Kabba Road in Kogi State has assured that the 43-kilometre stretch of road being resurfaced with concrete will be ready for motorists in December this year. Kalejaiye noted that the road was Nigeria’s longest concrete road project,disclosing that the road was already 29km completed.
The project is also part of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CRS) of the Dangote Cement Plc, and both the traditional and community leaders of that area have commended the company for bringing the massive road project to their land.
The Bajana of Obajana Land, King Idowu Senibi, says the project is gigantic and the first of its kind anywhere in Nigeria. “Dangote is our son. We would protect his huge investment and gigantic concrete road. I am happy that this is happening in my lifetime and in my Kingdom”, the monarch said.
Expectation is that the road project will open up the communities and impact positively on their economy. Already, vehicles and commercial activities have started coming up and Obajana, which the monarch said was like a village before the coming of Dangote Cement, “but now it is a mini-city and our population is about 70,000 people and is still growing”.
All these projects, according to officials of the Dangote Group, are products of their President’s of the concern for the huge sum of money used in road repairs. Dangote revealed that plans were afoot to revolutionize roads in Nigeria with concrete, stressing that resources used in road repairs and maintenance would be channeled to other more important needs.
“We are going to be building concrete roads in the country so that anytime we build a road, we do not have to go back to repair after the third raining season, but move on and use the resources to address other pressing needs of Nigeria,” he said.
