8 BUSINESS DAY C002D5556
NEWS
Monday 18 June 2018
Long wait for Lagos-Badagry Expressway reconstruction
JOSHUA BASSEY
A
decade later , what started off with much hope for millions of residents of Lagos has remained a pain in the neck , with no end anytime soon .
Having waited about ten years without seeing its completion , residents are raising questions as to what is happening with the reconstruction of the Lagos-Badagry expressway , contract for which was first awarded under the watch of Babatunde Fashola , then governor of Lagos State , who now sits atop threein-one ministry of power , works and housing .
It all started in 2009 , less than two years after Fashola took the oath of office on May 29 , 2007 . The first cheque to commence phase 1 of the road expansion project : Eric Moore / Orile Iganmu to Mile 2 , was handed over to Julius Berger Plc on April 27 , 2009 .
Rotimi Oyekan , then commissioner for finance , presented the cheque on behalf of the state government to Julius Berger . The venue was Block 12 , State Secretariat , Alausa , which houses the ministry of finance . A few journalists had been invited to witness the exciting moment .
The incumbent governor , Akinwunmi Ambode was at the time , permanent secretary / accountant-general of the state , and played a critical role in ensuring the release of the first cheque .
It was an ambitious and bold move by Fashola , who seemed eager to tackle the huge infrastructure gap in Nigeria ’ s former capital city . The four-lane dual carriage Lagos-Badagry Expressway was first constructed in the early 1970s under the military administration of General Mobolaji Johnson , interestingly , by Julius Berger .
Over the years , the road had suffered massive erosion and abuse of space , as vehicular and human traffic increased with the increasing population of the state . The new design for the international route that connects Nigeria with other communities in the West African sub region was unveiled ; ten lanes , with provisions made for a light rail system and Bus Rapid Transit ( BRT ) that would run in the middle . The total cost of road construction component of the project , at the time was put at N220 billion . This is no longer so , but officials have not said what it is now , or will be .
“ We are committed to renewing the infrastructure with a 10-lane highway that will provide the basis for modern transportation for the people who live and work in that corridor . It will also provide access for people who are coming to Nigeria from many parts of the West African sub-region ,” Oyekan said as he presented the cheque to the representative of Julius Berger in 2009 .
Three years after the first contract for the Lot 1 , which had been completed by Julius Berger , the government , in 2012 awarded the Lot 2 to China Civil Engineering and Construction Corporation ( CCECC ), which also had the responsibility for the rail component .
Obafemi Hamzat , then commissioner for works and infrastructure , announced at a stakeholders ’ meetings that the new phase
would run from Maza-Maza to Okokomaiko , with the Fashola administration assuring it would leave no project uncompleted .
Several years after the journey began , the Lagos-Badagry road project seems no longer a case of high expectation , but a matter of angst , frustration and disappointment . At the moment , government appears unclear when to complete the project . The completion date has been shifted several times ; 2015 to 2016 , to 2017 , to 2018 and now to no specific date . This is as engineers from the contracting firm handling the phase 2 are hardly seen on site .
The reinvigorated work pace that greeted the new administra- tion of Governor Ambode has ebbed , with the residents expressing concern as the rains intensify .
Adebowale Akinsanya , the state commissioner for works and infrastructure would not respond when contacted on the developments of the road . However , one of his aides , said construction work was still ongoing on the road , as the government remained committed to funding the Lot 2 up till Agbara , from where it hopes to enter into a Public Private Partnership ( PPP ) with any interested investor , to build the last phase to the Nigeria- Benin Republic border , at Seme .
“ Works have not stopped on the road . If you don ’ t see the workers and the site engineers on site , it is probably that they have gotten to phase where they need to do some of their engineering works offsite . It could also be that they are doing their fabrications at their various construction yards ,” the commissioner ’ s aide .
However , concerned about the poor handling of the road , Sejiro Ogungbe-James , the traditional ruler of Kweme Kingdom , Badagry , has tasked the Federal and Lagos State governments to join forces to complete the 64.8km road project in view of its strategic role as Nigeria ’ s gateway to the West African market .
Ogungbe-James , who spoke on Friday , said the timely completion of the road would alleviate the sufferings of motorists and commuters and further up the Nigerian market for patronage , just as he lamented the difficulty commuters and motorists currently faced especially on Volks-Iyana-Ijanikin stretch .
“ Badagry to Mile 2 shouldn ’ t take more than 45 minutes but the journey takes more than five hours or more because of the deplorable state of the road . The expressway which is the gateway to other West African countries is an eyesore and it is prone to accidents because of the state of the road .
“ Urgent steps must be taken to address this problem because it is one of the major reasons that the ancient city is underdeveloped because the state of the road drives away investors ,” said Ogungbe-James .
“ We have three borders around our communities in which the government generates revenue but we have not felt the impact of the government at the grassroots . We hope that the new port which the government wants to build in Badagry would come to reality because such huge project would open Badagry to the global world .
“ The government should focus on developing the rural areas as this will not only woo investors but it will also help in decongesting over populated city centre ,” he said .