The Nigerian government and Hitech Construction Company Ltd. have begun talks on building a coastal highway from Lagos to Calabar. The Minister of Works, David Umahi, met with the engineers and the contractor in Lagos on Sept. 23. He said the project was a huge and ambitious one that would link the whole country and show the commitment of President Bola Tinubu to Nigeria’s development.
He said the president wanted to start the project as soon as possible. He said the project was a partnership between the government and the private sector, and the contractor had already secured the funding for it. He said the project would be done in phases and the completed parts would be used and tolled.
He said the highway would connect with other major roads and bridges in the country, such as the Lagos-Badagry Expressway, the Fourth Mainland Bridge, the Lekki Deep Sea Port Road, and the Ogoja-Ikom Road. He said the highway would have a length of about 650 to 700kms and a rail line in the middle of it.
He said the project would boost tourism and create industrial zones along the road, with hotels, factories, housing estates, and other facilities. He said the project would showcase Nigeria’s potential as the giant of Africa, under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu.
He said the project would use concrete construction, which would benefit local cement producers, steel makers, and bitumen explorers. He said the project would face challenges because it would pass through different types of land and soil, such as mangroves, marshes, flood plains, and so on.
He said the project would use various construction methods, such as deck on pile, sand filling, retaining walls, and so on. He said the project was very technical and rewarding. He said another meeting would be held in two weeks to finalize the details of the project and start the design.
He said the Lagos-Port Harcourt-Calabar Coastal Highway was a unique project in Africa.
The consultant to Hitech, Nicholas Rizk, said the construction methods chosen were suitable for large countries like Nigeria. He said the project corridor crossed different geographical areas, so they had to consider the economic and social needs of the people along the road.
He said the road would start from Victoria Island near Eko Atlantic City and go through Lekki Coastal Road, Lekki Free Trade Zone, Dangote Refinery, and then link Ogun, Ondo, Delta, Edo up to Calabar. He said the road would connect nine states and integrate different regions of Nigeria.
He said the road would also link with other federal roads going from Lagos to Sokoto
From Warri to Kaduna, from Port Harcourt to Kano-Maiduguri and from Calabar to Maiduguri.
He said they had to keep a distance of 10 to 12 kilometres from the shorelines to avoid erosion and environmental issues. He said they also had to take care of health, safety and environmental factors as they passed oil-producing areas.
Source: pmnewsnigeria.com
