Lagos-Ibadan Expressway reconstruction set to begin

A portion of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway

Three months after President Goodluck Jonathan inaugurated the reconstruction of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, physical work on the road is set to commence immediately.

This follows the signing of agreement on Monday by the Federal Government and the two companies that will work on the road, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc and RCC.

While responding to a question on the delay in the commencement of the project after its inauguration in July, the Deputy Director, Federal Ministry of Works, Mr. Umunna Ekenna, told our correspondent that after the cancellation of the concession of the road to Bi-Courtney Highway Services Limited by the Federal Government last year, it was important to agree on a tidy contract with the contractors.

Ekenna spoke with our correspondent in Ibadan on Wednesday on the sidelines of an event organised by National Orientation Agency.

He said although the major work did not start immediately after the July inauguration by the President, a lot had happened prior to the final signing of the agreement.

Ekenna said, “The physical work may not have started after the inauguration of the project by the President in July, but that was because the agreement was just signed between the Federal Government and the two companies this week. Now that the agreement has been signed, the companies can begin physical work immediately.

“Their equipment will be moved to the site and hopefully, full work will begin this month. Before now, the companies had studied the road and came up with permanent solutions to the problems encountered on the road. Julius Berger will work on the Lagos-Sagamu part of the road, while RCC will work on the Sagamu-Ibadan part of it.”

He also said the government entered into the concession agreement because of lack of funds to work on all the roads across the country, stating that it was unfortunate that the concessionaire did not fulfil its own part of the agreement.

Ekenna said, “Our annual budget (for the ministry) is N100bn but the Federal Government gave us additional N85.5bn through the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme. It is helpful but not adequate. So, what we decided to do was to spend the money on major roads that were of national benefit.

“The federal roads shoulder a lot of heavy duty and it is important to constantly work on them. We also decided to engage in Public-Private Partnership, but before you can do that, you must assure the partners that they are going to get a return on their investment.

“Unfortunately, the company, Bi-Courtney Highway Services Limited, which got the job, did not act on the project. It was difficult for the government to quickly come in, but after due process was followed, the concession was withdrawn.”

The Managing Director, Infrastructure Bank Plc, Mr. Adekunle Oyinloye, had said in a statement on Tuesday that Federal Government had mandated the bank to raise N167bn for the reconstruction of the 127-kilometre road.
- The Punch