By Daniel Tyokua
The Federal Ministry of Works and Housing has disclosed that Apapa – Oworonshoki road project will be completed in 2021.
Engr Funso Adebiyi, the Director of highway construction and rehabilitation gave the assurance during an inspection of the 4 sections project over the weekend.
He said Apapa/Oshodi/ Oworonshoki Expressway project which started about 3 years ago was achieving varied levels of completion on the four sections of the road.
In a statement on Sunday by Bode Akinola, said President Muhammadu Buhari flagged off the project on 17th November, 2018 to address the heavy grid lock on the expressway with the promise to deliver it in two years.
Adebiyi said, “About 61 percentage have been achieve as of today, in the first phase covering 27km ever busy road project. On section 1, we have achieved about 70 percentage completion and on section 3, we have achieved 63 per cent.
“Section 4 has recorded about 41 per cent, which means work is going on in that section. The contract for section 2, has been awarded and work would commence there soon.”
The Director explained that before the intervention of Federal Government through the Ministry of Works and Housing, the road was in deplorable state and this hindered free flow of traffic on the road.
“But from what we have seen so far on the finished portions of the road, I want to assure you that bad days are over, we have good days here now and better days are ahead of us. So Nigerians should bear with us, we are making progress and I can assure you that by the end of this year, Apapa port users would have the best road because we have made significant progress, ” he explained.
Adebiyi noted that the current traffic gridlock experience on some sections of the road is not due to the construction but the illegal parking of trailer drivers on the bridge, adding that trailer drivers should make use of the trailer parks along the Corridor and the newly constructed one for transit to the port.
On the economic benefit of the project, the Director of Highway, South-West Engr. Kuti Adedamola said that, adding to the ease of traffic on the road, the project has created about 600 direct jobs and over 1000 indirect jobs, thereby improving the livelihood of Nigerians and this is a further support to Mr. President’s dream of moving 100 million Nigerians out of poverty, to the ladder of prosperity.
On the quality of the job, the Federal Controller of Works, Lagos, Engr. Kayode Popoola explained that several layers if construction went underneath, with up to eight inches thickness of concrete to make the rigid pavement strong for durability.
