A ₦1.067 trillion contract was accepted by the Federal Executive Council on Monday to begin construction of the coastal highway’s first phase.
Dave Umahi, the Minister of Works, made this statement following the Council’s ninth meeting since President Bola Tinubu took office at the State House in Abuja.There is a train track in the center of the 47.47 km dual highway, with five lanes on each side.
Umahi noted that the facility will be built of concrete and that it is a portion of the 700 km road that crosses nine states. It also has two spurs that lead up north.
“Today (Yesterday ), we had the approval of FEC for the construction of 700km of coastal routes running from Lagos through the nine coastal routes or states up to cross river, meaning that it goes to Lagos, the Lekki Deep Seaport, Ogun, Ondo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers and Akwa Ibom.
“But we also have two spurs that leads to the north, from the ongoing Badagry-Sokoto route and the one that leads to the Trans-Sahara route that goes from Ogoja down to Cameroon. Now, it is a dual carriage way and each carriage way has five lanes and a provision for a train infrastructure that will be at the middle,” disclosed Umahi.
He clarified that despite the council’s prior approval of the project’s procurement under EPC+F (Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Financing), difficulties obtaining funding befell the contractor, High Tech Construction African limited.
“So, the Ministry went back to Mr. President to ask for two things: We asked ‘can we fast track this?’
“Since this project was going to be procured in two phases and multiple sections, can we get the federal government to fund the phase one, which is what is 47.47km running from Ahmadu Bello in Lagos down to Lekki Deep Seaport? Mr. President graciously approved,” he revealed.
The Minister said, “Today, we have procured the first section, which is 47.47km, under 10 lanes and FEC graciously approved the contract for ₦1.067tn with no objection. FEC also approved that the second section be procured, to be funded by federal government, which is about 57km and that runs from Lekki Deep Seaport to the boundary between Ogun and that section two of phase one.
“Then the third section is to start from the end of the road, which is Calabar and so that’s about 50 kilometers, and it’s procured under section three of phase one, and is running from Calabar and going towards Akwa Ibom and towards Port Harcourt.
“Then the other sections and other places will still be under EPC+F in favor of High Tech Construction Africa Limited. But let me also announce that the road is going to be constructed with concrete and they are masters in that.”
Additionally, he declared the approval of modifications to the contract sum for ongoing projects that started in 2006 but can no longer be pursued due to differences in construction material prices.
“The prices of construction materials, like in 2006 we should be expecting asphalt to cost about ₦2000 per meter square, and today’s cost is between ₦27,000 and ₦30,000 per meter square.
“The same thing goes with diesel; the same thing goes with cement. And so, some of these projects are stuck.
“One of such that lifted today was the dualisation of Kano-Maiduguri road, section four, Damaturu-Maiduguri, it was awarded in 2006. And it has stopped because the contracts can no longer carry it. But today is been argumented from ₦39bn,” he explained.
After its contract price was increased from ₦10 billion to ₦20 billion, the upkeep of Pankshin-Gindiri Road in Pankshin, Plateau state, which was granted in 2017, received a boost.
The Mayo-Belewa-Jega-Kanya-Tungur road in Adamawa state was also highlighted by Umahi. It was awarded in 2018 and has since been contested from ₦21 billion to ₦43 billion due to changes in the true cost of the building industry.
“And then the last one is a road that is going from Yakasai-Badume-Damagum-Makin Zali in Kano state. This was awarded in January 2021 and it’s been documented from ₦12bn to ₦17bn,” he concluded.
“Over 1,000 roads will go through this kind of process to keep them alive,” the minister stated, noting that “most of them are inherited projects from previous administrations.”