The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has reaffirmed that the main carriageway of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway will be completed latest by the end of April.
Fashola, in the company of the Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Works and Infrastructure, Aramide Adeyoye, the Commissioner for Transportation, Dr. Frederick Oladeinde and other engineers, gave the assurance while inspecting the highway on Saturday.
“We will do our best to deliver this on the expected date which is 30th of April,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria reported that the minister enumerated efforts to keep pace with construction speed, in spite of challenges of high vehicular volume, impact of bad soil, reckless driving by impatient motorists and other technical issues.
He explained interventions to reduce impact of gridlock on motorists and commutters using traffic and law enforcement agencies from both Lagos State and Ogun.
Fashola also explained emergency measures of opening up some sections adopted by the Federal Controller of Works in Lagos State, Umar Bakare, to ease gridlock for travellers during the Easter holiday.
According to the former Lagos state governor, the contractors were working on the last stretch of six kilometers which was the most difficult aspect, to construct out of the entire 44 kms of section one of the highway which spans from Ojota in Lagos to Sagamu Interchange.
Fashola said three teams, made of 450 construction workers, were working simultaneously on three sections with a deployment of about 110 equipment, machines and trucks.
He said, “So far so good, we are on course, we are on the last stretch of the race. Often times when you are running a marathon, as you get towards the end, you get fatigued as you see the finish line.
“We stayed focused, that is one of the reasons I am here to ensure that we will meet that deadline, fingers crossed, I hope that we do not have any unforseen developments again.”
