FG to spend N277bn on bridges in 3 years

Federal Government on Thursday said it would spend N277 billion on bridges across the country within the next three years.
This was contained in a statement issued by Olusegun Ogunkayode, a senior information officer in the Ministry of Power Works and Housing.

He quoted Babatunde Fashola, minister of power, works and housing, as saying that “the Federal Government has developed a three-year plan to cover bridges, which will require about N277 billion.”

Fashola also lamented, “for decades attention has not been paid to bridges built across the country as if they are not destructible.”

He said due to erosion, stress and failures, some of these bridges have been witnessing monumental decay.

Among these bridges, he noted, are Tamburawa in Kano, Ijora in Lagos, Lokoja in Kogi, the long bridge on Lagos-Ibadan expressway in Ogun, and Jaji in Kaduna State as well as in other places across the six geo-political zones.

The minister said going forward in 2017, government had developed proposals for the budget to intervene on critical roads in the six geo-political zones that lead to and from major food producing states.

According to Fashola, plans are on the way to include states that engage in mining activity as well as states endowed with strategic fuel depots.

The minister used the forum to inform the public on some road projects work had resumed after contractors had been re-mobilised to construction sites nationwide.

He added that the consultants who were supervising various road projects had also benefited from the payment.
On the maintenance of existing roads, he said the first step was to restore the authority of all the controllers in the 36 states of the federation and to charge them to be more responsive on all federal roads in their respective states.