Lagos govt explains why Fourth Mainland Bridge is delayed

 

Lagos State government has attributed the long delay in the construction of the long proposed Fourth Mainland Bridge to the springing up of several properties along the alignment of the bridge, which has necessitated the shifting from the original right of way to avoid massive demolitions.

The much anticipated bridge which idea was mooted nearly two decades now is meant to link the island and mainland parts of the state in what will complement existing bridges like Eko and Carter.

The clarification on the bridge comes as the governor, Babatunde Fashola, on Thursday, handed over the reconstructed Wempco Road in Ogba area, with a call on motorists, residents and business operators in that area to refrain from the abuse of the dual carriageway by turning it into car park and roadside market. BusinessDay gathered that drainage works and the actual construction of the road gulped about N3 billion. It was handled by two constructing firms, Arab Contractors and Strabic Construction Limited.

Fashola explained that the construction of the two-kilometre road with sidewalks, bicycle lanes, streetlights, service ducts and underground drainage channelisation, became necessary to tackle the perennial flooding and traffic congestion which slowed down economic and social activities in the area before the intervention.

Dayo Mobereolaid, managing director of Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), a World Bank assisted agency of Lagos State government, said the road which quality of construction compares with what obtains in the developed world, if regularly maintained, could last 25 years.

Giving technical details of the road, Mobereola said “the underground drainage channelisation which is almost 2-kilometre long is a precast reinforced concrete rectangular drainage with a varying depth of between 2 and 10 metres. The box precast is 2 metres in length and 2 metres breath. It is the first of its kind in Lagos.”

Meanwhile, Femi Hamzat has explained that the government had to redesign the bridge in order to avoid demolishing buildings erected on the right of way. Giving an update on the bridge, Hamzat said no fewer than 69 buildings would be demolished if the original alignment was adhered to.

“We conducted a survey to establish the right of way. We looked at various options. The option that seems best for us has about 4km of bridge on the water. Unfortunately, when we started the survey and enumeration, a lot of people have built unbelievable number of buildings. I think people were speculative in anticipation of the bridge. I think the demolition we have to do is now about 69 buildings, so we have to rethink, the amount of compensation will run into billions if we have to do that