Lagos State Government has said it has terminated the earlier
contract with investors for the construction of proposed N844 billion
fourth mainland bridge projects.
This was disclosed today by the Commissioner for Waterfront and
Infrastructure Development, Engr. Adebowale Akinsanya, while addressing
journalists in Alausa.
He said government is presently considering various proposals from
foreign investors such as United States of America, Britain, in order to
accelerate commencement of the project.
Akinsanya said the government had to dump the former contractors
which include Africa financial corporation, AFC and other investors, due
to continued delay in the commencement of the multi-billion naira
project.
Other investors dumped by the Government a year after signing Memorandum
of Understanding, MOU for the 38 kilometer bridge and road project
includes; Visible Assets Limited and Access Bank Plc.
According to him, “the reason why we terminated the contract of
former investors was mainly due to slow pace of work. We are now looking
at many investors, though, interest is very high. We have such
investors from South Korea, Europe, and America, among few others. What
we are doing now is vetting the proposals we don’t want to waste any
further time. So works are in top progress on the 4th Mainland Bridge.”
The commissioner assured residents that the state government would
ensure that appropriate investors would be named soon for the project
considering its importance.
Also, permanent Secretary, Ministry of Works and Infrastructure,
Engr. Temidayo Erinle, who spoke on the planed airport road project
said, “We are yet to get Federal Government’s approval on the Airport
road project. We want to assure residents that whenever there is
approval you will see engineers move to site.
“Though, we are still collaborating with FG to get things resolved.
The road is not in good condition; hence, we need to move fast. Also
Apapa Road, same issue as Airport Road, it’s a federal road, we are
collaborating with FG on it too.”
Erinle added that efforts by Ambode administration’s to carry out a
total reconstruction of the International Airport Road from Oshodi as at
press time was yet to be approved by the Federal Ministry of Works.
According to him, the state government, presently, has a design for
the reconstruction of the road as well as the funds to embark on the
project but “the Federal Government is yet to grant approval. Though, we
are still talking on it.
“On the proposed 188 roads, we have received over 1,000 proposals
from contractors. We are currently in a vetting stage. We are studying
the technical aspect because it’s very important. We are looking at the
application. Not only the costs are we considering, we have to look at
the background, years of experience, expertise too. We are paying more
attention to technical aspect.”
Erile added that in maintaining the existing roads in the state, the
Public Works Corporation, LSPWC, worked on 807 roads within the state,
while it delivered over 532 roads and agency currently working on over
275 other roads.