The Federal Ministry of Works and Housing has resumed emergency repair of roads and bridges in Lagos State.

The Federal Controller of Works, Lagos State, Engr. Joshua Olukayode Popoola, at a recent tour, stated that the scope of work for the emergency repair of the Marine Bridge includes; the replacement of 72 expansion joints and the rubber; replacement of the bearing; skin repairs of the pier; and jacketing.

The contractors were mobilised to site in January, he said but that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many left the site, leaving a few and work was skeletal, till they resumed again in May.

He stated that the contractor for the Marine Bridge project is Buildwell Equipment Nig. Ltd, while the project manager is Engr. Ghassan Kaadi.

Kaadi stated that they had done 10% of the job, as some of the skin repairs have been done. The completion date of the project is April 2021. “Currently, we work in sections of 200m at once. One section of the road is in use, and as soon as that is finished, we open this and commence work on the other section,” he said.

On getting to Apapa, Popoola stated that work was ongoing in four sections of Apapa, they are; Liverpool, Creek Road, Tin Can, and Coconut. The scope of work here is the pulverization of the existing asphaltic concrete, adding of the stone base before laying to attain reinforce concrete pavement, he said.

The thickness is about 200mm, which is about 8 inches. This will last longer than the regular asphaltic concrete. The busy nature of Apapa-Oshodi Road, and the load it carries prompted the change in design to continuous reinforced concrete pavement, to be able to withstand the heavy load involved, he said.

This construction has impacted the economy by creating about 600 direct jobs for Engineers, Surveyors, Quantity Surveyors and Artisans working on this project, while the indirect ones like food sellers, suppliers of cement, reinforcement and others are not less than 1000.

Notably, during the lockdown, their contractors were still working on this road to make sure that November 2020 deadline was actualised, he said.

He stated that the regular travel time has also reduced, saying for instance, Apapa to Oworonshoki that will take four hours previously, now took less than 15 minutes because of the completed section that has been opened to traffic. “Commuters and road users are now happy and we promise to complete the work in due time.”

The contract sum for this whole section is about N73 billion, while the main contractor for this, is Dangote Industries Ltd, subcontracted to Hitech Nigeria Ltd., he said.

The Team also toured Tin Can Island where there was an ongoing laying of reinforce concrete pavement. The length of which is about 2.75km.

The Project Manager of Hitech, Engr. Ashton Davies stated that the concept employed for the reconstruction of Apapa-Oworonshoki-Ojota Expressway is the continuous reinforced piping. The duration for this section is November 17th 2018 – 20th November 2020.

Section 1 of the four sections is Apapa, and it has attained 22% completion; Section 3, which covers Cele Bus stop – Anthony Village has attained 55% completion, and section 4, which covers Anthony Village –Former Tollgate, and is about 10.5km has attained about 20% completion, he said.

The completion date for these projects, i.e, Sections 1, 3 and 4 of Apapa – Oshodi expressway as stated by the Minister of works, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola is still November 2020, he said.

Popoola complained on the issue of refuse dump on the roads, which will eventually block the drainages and cause damage to the roads. He appealed to the people to take responsibility for these roads and structure. They should maintain these roads and not dump refuse inside the drainages, he said.

Source: This Day News