The Federal Government says building of the 750-kilometre Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway is progressing as deliberate, dismissing reviews that the challenge had been deserted for the East-West Road.
Sen. David Umahi, Minister of Works, acknowledged this whereas briefing newsmen on Monday on the State House in Abuja.
Umahi stated building is ongoing alongside numerous sections of the freeway, including that the challenge remained intact and was being carried out as designed.
“The Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway is moving and moving even faster than envisaged. Don’t forget that Section One, covering 147.47 kilometres, is being fully constructed in Lagos,” he stated.
The minister stated Section Two, masking 55 kilometres, was anticipated to be prepared by mid-November.
He stated work is ongoing on Sections Three A and Three B, masking about 75 kilometres in Akwa Ibom and Cross River states, with progress exceeding 40 per cent.
Umahi added that building is ongoing on Sections Four A and Four B, masking 65 kilometres throughout Ogun and Ondo states.
He stated work had additionally commenced on Section Five, masking 62.5 kilometres in Akwa Ibom, with greater than 20 per cent progress recorded inside lower than three months.
The minister defined that the ministry is in search of President Bola Tinubu’s approval to include about 400 kilometres of the East-West Road into the continued infrastructure improvement programme.
He stated the proposed intervention would cowl sections linking Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross River states.
Umahi stated the East-West Road required consideration as a result of some sections had suffered harm from flooding, citing affected parts in Delta and Edo.
He confused that the proposed work on the East-West Road would complement, moderately than exchange, the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.
“Nobody has abandoned the 750-kilometre Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway. We have designers and surveyors working along the route, including in Edo, Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers,” he stated.
Umahi stated the Federal Government is endeavor surveys alongside the route to make sure the challenge’s continued improvement and integration with different infrastructure tasks within the Niger Delta.
He added that the freeway remained a part of the Federal Government’s legacy infrastructure tasks and that its alignment wouldn’t be altered.
“The 750-kilometre coastal highway is intact and cannot be changed. Nobody has the power to change it because it is already designed and ongoing,” he stated. (NAN)
Edited by Chioma Ugboma
