Highway

Abuja, Nov. 17, 2023: The Minister of Works, Mr David Umahi, has been briefed on the ongoing construction of the Lagos-Abidjan Highway initiated by Heads of States and Government of five ECOWAS Member States.

This is contained in a statement by the Assistant Director of Information in the ministry, Clement Ezeorah, in Abuja on Thursday.

Ezeorah said the event which took place at the minister’s office has ECOWAS delegation led by the ECOWAS Commissioner for Infrastructure, Energy and Digitalisation Engr. Sediko Douka.

The Minister said that for ease of work and speedy completion, the highway project should have processes for its achievement like sectioning the project, considering the peculiarities of the areas across the corridor and also noting that some areas might be viable while some may not be.

Umahi underscored the importance of the highway project saying that the road project would propel rapid integration of the region, boast commercial activities, improve social development among member states.

Umahi also advocated the use of concrete pavement on the Nigerian corridor noting that there were a lot of advantages using concrete in road construction without having issues of portholes or washout.

According to him, concrete roads have a longer lifespan, it can withstand heavy traffic loads, low maintenance, less affected by temperature fluctuations and that this has been adopted by the Nigerian government.

“A lot of advantages to use concrete to construct roads, concrete roads lasts longer compared to asphalt roads reducing the need for frequent repairs and maintenance, it’s stronger and can withstand heavy traffic loads, it also has low maintenance and this has been adopted by the Nigerian government,” he said.

Umahi said  that while adapting to feasibility result and technical studies, Nigeria would fast track the completion of her own section of the highway describing it as laudable and would enhance rapid growth.

“We should fast track the completion of our own section following the feasibility result and technical studies and design a laudable project for rapid growth and development.

Earlier in his remarks, the ECOWAS Commissioner for Infrastructure, Sediko Douka said that Africa’s economic integration was hampered by large deficits in its transportation infrastructure.

He added that the 2050 ECOWAS vision sought to enhance infrastructure development and also recognised as a factor for economic growth and integration of people that would greatly contribute to the creation of a regional environment favorable to the free movement of people and goods.

He said the 1,028 km road project was initiated by the Heads of States and Government of the Corridor Member States namely: Benin 128km, Cote d’Ivoire 155km, Ghana 576km, Nigeria 79.5km and Togo 89.2km in Yamoussoukro, Cote D’Ivoire on 28th February, 2013.

He added that the steering committee of the project were made up of the Ministers of Work of Corridor Member States and commissioner for Infrastructure of the ECOWAS Commission while the Minister is automatically a member.

He said their role is to provide oversight guidance for the implementation of the project and each of the Ministers reports back to their respective Head of Government.

Also speaking, the Director Infrastructure Department, ECOWAS, Engr, Malik Ashoke revealed that the link bridge between Nigeria and Cameroon had been completed and commissioned, nevertheless  scanning machine and weigh bridges were yet to be put in place.

Lagos, Sept. 24, 2023: The Minister of Works, Mr David Umahi, on Saturday opened discussions with Hitech Construction Company Ltd. on the proposed Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.

Umahi, during a meeting with engineers from the Federal Ministry of Works and the contractor’s team in Lagos said the project would boost interconnectivity to link the entire nation.

He said the project was huge, ambitious and showed the commitment of President Bola Tinubu to the restoration and rapid development of the Nigerian state.

He said the president was in a hurry to fix Nigeria and begin the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project.

The minister said the meeting with the contractor was the first and another meeting to be held in a fortnight would be to close deals for commencement of construction.

He said the project was a Public Private Partnership to be tolled upon completion, adding that the contractor had already sourced the money to execute the project.

Umahi explained that the project would be constructed in phases and the completed portions would be put to use and tolled.

He said the proposed highway would link Lagos-Badagry Expressway super highway, connect the proposed Fourth Mainland Bridge, Lekki Deep Sea Port Road, link Ogoja-Ikom to connect five points in Northern Nigeria.

He said the road had an initial design length of about 650 kilometres to 700 kilometres and rail lines components which would run in the middle of the main carriageways.

He said the project would promote tourism, have industrial clusters including hotels, factories, housing estates and several other facilities.

“It is quite innovative and the giant of Africa is beginning to show her prowess and this is being revitalised by the captain of the ship, his excellency President Bola Tinubu.

“So, this is beautiful. Another good news is that this is going to be built on concrete road of 11 inches thick with 20 millimeter reinforcement,” he said.

He said concrete construction would give opportunity for local cement manufacturers, boost steel production from Ajaokuta, as well as exploration of Nigeria’s huge bitumen.

Umahi, who is a civil engineer, said the project would have challenges because it would pass through mangroves, mashy areas, flood plains and all kinds of land and soil types.

“And so, there will be a combination of all kinds of construction methods, the deck on pile would be there, the sand filling will be there, the retaining walls will be there.

“So, it’s a very ambitious project, quite technical and highly rewarding.

“So, the second meeting will come up in two weeks where the business case study will be exposed to us and we will give them a letter to own the project and then to engage in the design.

“The Lagos-Port Harcourt-Calabar Coastal Highway is the first of its kind in the whole of Africa,” he said.

Consultant to Hitech, Nicholas Rizk, said the construction methods chosen were suitable for countries with large landmass like Nigeria.

Rizk said the project corridor transversed various topographical areas, hence the need to capture all economic and social peculiarities of people along the project alignment.

He said the road would take off from Victoria Island near Eko Atlantic City through the Lekki Coastal Road, then Lekki Free Trade Zone and the Dangote Refinery to link Ogun, Ondo, Delta, Edo up till Calabar.

“We are connecting nine states and this road.

“In addition to the integration at the national level for South West and South East, South South and Niger Delta, it connects with the Federal Roads going from Lagos to Sokoto.

“From Warri to Kaduna, from Port Harcourt to Kano-Maiduguri and from Calabar to Maiduguri.

“So, basically, as the Minister mentioned, we have this coastal highway that is more or less 10 to 12 kilometres away from the shorelines to consider the issue of erosion and the sensitive environmental areas,” he said.

He explained how health, safety and environmental factors were considered in the project as it passed oil producing areas through Brass, Calabar to connect

East West corridor through Lagos to Abidjan and also the North.

He also explained the rail components of the project, the measurements and other dimensions of the major carriageways as well as links to major ports in the nation.