According to Babatunde Raji Fashola, Minister of Works and Housing, the Indigenous People of Biafra’s (IPOB) instruction to “sit at home” was a significant factor in the Second Niger Bridge project’s apparent delay.
On Wednesday, December 21, 2022, Fashola announced on the Sunrise Daily program on Channels Television.
The bridge will not be finished before the end of 2022 as the minister and Nigeria’s government had earlier promised.
Fashola on the challenges facing the bridge said, “These dates keep shifting and people must remember that on the eastern side, our contractors have not been able to work on Mondays for almost two years and that has affected the completion date.
‘’While construction workers work on Saturdays, a 52-day loss cannot easily be made up for in construction work.’’
The relocation of transmission lines that crossed the Niger River to connect the East and West, as well as a snag that prevented the early completion of the bridge within the previously specified time, were among the other difficulties that the minister identified as contributing to the lost days.
Speaking about completing the final 4 km of the road in 4 months, Mr. Fashola stated that because the construction is occurring in wetlands, there is a significant requirement for dredging and sand filling, a process that he claims cannot be accelerated.
He stressed that the use of Prefabricated Vertical Drains, which hasten settlement and drainage and as a result, allows construction to begin more quickly than would have been anticipated, is the reason the ministry and its contractors have made such excellent progress on the road thus far.
However, Fashola told Nigerians that the bridge would be finished before President Muhammadu Buhari’s term ended in May 2023. He also added that the bridge will unavoidably be tolled to ensure that it would be maintained to serve Nigerians for many years.
Catch up
- The Second Niger Bridge is a Federal Government project that has cost about N206 billion.
- The 1.6 km long bridge is furnished with other ancillary infrastructure, including a 10.3km highway, the Owerri interchange, and a toll station all at Obosi town.
- The bridge was conceived under the administration of Olusegun Obasanjo but was embarked upon by President Muhammadu Buhari.
- The bridge is being constructed across Nigeria’s Niger River and it will span from Asaba to Onitsha.
- The Federal Government about a week ago opened the Second Niger Bridge for use for a period of one month during the Yuletide. The bridge is expected to be closed on January 15, 2023, for the completion of the project.
