BEVERLY HILLS, May 03, (THEWILL) – The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the sum of N143.2 billion for the construction of roads and bridges across the country.
Among these is an additional N80 billion voted for the Lagos -Ibadan expressway which will take care of the rehabilitation of 84 kilometers section two (Ibadan to Sagamu) of the expressway.
This was revealed by the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, at the end of an eight-hour FEC meeting chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa.
According to him, Council approved N38.03 billion to RCC for the 72 kilometers Ninth Mile to Orukan road in Enugu State; a contract for Ile bridge in Osun State at the cost of N2.546 billion and the sum of N18.874 billion for repair works at the 3rd Mainland Bridge in Lagos which was awarded to an Italian construction firm, Borini Prono, which originally constructed the bridge.
“The contract awarded to RCC at the cost of N96 billion before is now revised by N80.199 billion to take the total cost to N176.503 billion. The major component is the change of the type of bitumen, the swamps that have been encountered, the depth of the design for the road, which is 1,100 millimetres, roughly about 43 inches of reconstruction from base,” he stated.
“As you might know, the road is being expanded from two to three lanes on both sides. Also we are installing Glover leavers, toll plazas and service lanes. All these to accommodate the changes that have taken place, which were not conceptualised when the road was first built.
“The repair of the Third Mainland Bridge was conceived in 2011 but was not awarded because there were no budgetary provisions.
“But we have created budgetary provision for it as part of our national bridge maintenance strategy because our bridges haven’t been maintained for decades. This was for N18.87 billion to Borini Promo.
“Essentially, what they will be doing is pile repairs. Piles are the foundations that hold the bridge. We are starting with the first 33 piles that are in critical conditions, then another set of 19 piles, and then 44 piles. And a general maintenance of 177 piles that form the entire foundation of the bridge. The other work is to replace the expansion joints.”
He said that FEC also okayed award of remedial interventions in four roads in the country which are: parts of Jebba-Mokwa road in favour of CGC for N1.079 billion; Ijebu-Ijesa- Ekiti State border road in favour of Time Building Construction company for N538 million; Emergency repairs of Ijebu-Ijesha Ekiti State border road section two in favour of Invest Right Ltd in the sum of N562 million and the rehabilitation of failed sections of Asaba-Ilaibu Edo State border road in favour of Setraco Ltd for N830 million.
