The federal government has disclosed reducing the project’s size of the Lagos-Calabar highway project from 10 lanes to six as a cost-saving measure for the legacy project.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Minister of Works, David Umahi revealed this during a meeting with contractors in Abuja on Tuesday.
Umahi also disclosed that the highway has been rerouted to avoid any possible damage to subsea cables belonging to telecommunication companies.
The Minister said the government has allocated a total of N10 billion as compensation for property owners impacted by the demolitions required for the development of the 700km Lagos-Calabar Coastal highway.
Speaking, Umahi said: “For the three legacy projects by the administration, the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway, we have cut down the project size to six lanes, especially from sections two, three, and four, it shows you that we mean business.
“Some people have been writing that we have stopped the project. No project is stopped. As we are talking now, over four kilometres of concrete road has been completed on six lanes.
“We had to establish a new path due to complaints made by MTN on its subsea cable and Okuaja community. We had to reroute not to the new alignment, not to the gazetted alignment but far away from the two, and we came back to a new alignment at kilometre 25.
“So the work is ongoing and it’s moving smoothly. We have paid the total compensation of close to N10 billion. We are not owing and the contractor is highly commended for a very beautiful job, commitment and being very reasonable.
“These projects are investments, and they have inherent returns on investments, By May 29, 2025, we will have completed section one of the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway.
“Apart from the land we are going to acquire for tourism, factories and industries, when we toll the road, within 10 years, we would recover the cost of the money. So, it is an investment.
“Sections three and four have been finalised, but we are going to do stakeholders engagement in either Cross River or Akwa Ibom because that is where those sections will get started so that we can ensure procurement. But the design is almost completed”.