The Interview Editors
President Bola Tinubu has approved and released funds for the rehabilitation of the 11- kilometer Eko bridge.
The Minister of Works, Mr. David Umahi, said this when he inspected the progress of work on a couple of different projects and bridges on Thursday in Lagos.
“The Eko bridge is ongoing; a lot of rehabilitation and giving life to that project is ongoing.
“And I want to let people know that Mr President has already approved and released funds for the entire completion of the Eko Bridge, a total of 11 kilometers.
“And I will go there to look at additional jobs that will be done to re-scope the project to look like the third mainland bridge that we’re working on, which Lagos residents and indeed Nigerians are very happy about,’’ he said.
The minister said that the resurfacing of the third mainland bridge which was about 70 per cent done, was also ongoing again by the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation Limited (CCECC).
He emphasised the priority of using solar power and CCTV to improve bridges and ensure the happiness of residents of Lagos and Nigerians in general.
He also said that solar powered and CCTV cameras would be mounted above deck and underwater to address illegal sand mining.
Umahi said that Julius Berger was working on pier caps for Carter Bridge, Iddo Bridge, and Third Mainland Bridge.
According to him, the third mainland bridge had four critical elements to be rehabilitated.
He said, “the first one is the deck and the deck is about 11 kilometers by two, that is, dual carriage ways including the ramps and its being done by CCECC.
“The second job is that some sections of the slap deflected and what we have done is to get an expert to understudy the level of deflection.
“The third one is what Julius Berger is doing already which is installation of deteriorated piles and pier caps and the most critical is what we have gone to inspect and that is what is happening with the piles.
“The piles to the bridges are like our legs, if something is wrong with our legs we can no longer stand and if our legs is no longer on the ground, we can no longer stand.
“Some of them we are seeing reinforcement, very dangerous, the casing gone, concrete exposed and no problem, safe cases but the concrete have also been eroded.’’
He acknowledged the importance of inspecting the underwater sections of the bridges for necessary repairs.
He said that an Italian company was brought in to assess the situation with urgency, adding that a decision would be made to address potential issues.
He said, “But then we are also going to look at another scoping which is not yet before Mr. President, and that is the most important aspect of this rehabilitation of our bridges and that is what is happening below the water level.
“We already have seen what is happening and so we are taking Berger there.
”We brought in an Italian company to look at it and there are quick actions that we must take to save the bridge. Then we are going to take that decision today.”
