The Minister of Works, Senator David Nweze Umahi, has said that the successful completion of rehabilitation works on phase one of the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos was a clear Indication that the Tinubu administration was on course not only to rehabilitate the bridge but also to carry out comprehensive repairs on Eko and Carter bridges, also in Lagos, in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of the Federal Government.
Director of Information and Public Relations in the Federal Ministry of Information, Mr Ben Bem Goong, said in a press release that the minister was speaking Saturday in Lagos while on an inspection tour of the three bridges linking Lagos Mainland with Victoria Island, including the on-going rehabilitation works on the first section of the 3rd Mainland Bridge.
Describing the esthetics of markings and solar lights on the Oworonshoki end of the bridge as beautiful and attractive, the minister said the underwater aspects of the project remains the most complicated and critical, adding that the underwater structural damage to the three bridges called for concern.
Umahi was optimistic that the Tinubu Administration was equal to the task and would confront the challenges head-on.
The minister revealed that the contractor handling the Carter Bridge had been mobilised to the tune of N7 billion a couple of days ago, adding that rehabilitation works would commence in the coming days.
Also speaking during an interview session with journalists, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Works, Senator Barinada Mpigi, and his House of Representatives counterpart, Hon. Akin Alabi, called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to declare a state of emergency on the nation’s infrastructure, given the enormity of the challenges on ground.
The chairmen said the situation called for thinking outside the box, adding that the financial requirements needed to fix the nation’s infrastructure was well beyond the capacity of annual appropriations.
The duo, however, assured that the National Assembly would do everything possible within the limits of the law to help fund the projects given their importance in the scheme of things in the nation’s commercial nerve centre.
Conducting the minister around different sections of the Third Mainland Bridge, the Carter and Eko bridges, the Federal Controller of Works in Lagos State, Engineer O.I. Kesha, told the minister that the underwater damage to the three bridges was far more colossal than anyone could imagine.
Kesha also took the minister and members of his entourage to several sections of the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway and some sections of the Lagos- Ibadan express way, among other federal projects in the state.
