After series of unfulfilled promises, the Minister of works, Mr. Mike Onolememen, has again promised that the badly damaged Apapa-Oshodi expressway in Lagos will be fully reconstructed by the end of next year.
Speaking at the ministerial platform which held in Abuja on Monday to commemorate the one year in office of President Goodluck Jonathan, the minister confirmed that paucity of funds is hampering the completion of the very important project
After series of unfulfilled promises, the Minister of works, Mr. Mike Onolememen, has again promised that the badly damaged Apapa-Oshodi expressway in Lagos will be fully reconstructed by the end of next year.
Speaking at the ministerial platform which held in Abuja on Monday to commemorate the one year in office of President Goodluck Jonathan, the minister confirmed that paucity of funds is hampering the completion of the very important project
The minister said that the federal government has evolved a new funding arrangement to enable the work to be accelerated; he also added that the new funding arrangement was proposed by the ministry to the National Economic Management Team, headed by the Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala
Even though, he refused to give details of the new deal, he never-the-less, acknowledged that “the project had been experiencing poor funding for a while and because of this, we decided to make presentations to the NEMT on how we can creatively fund that project.
“And based on this presentation, the NEMT approved the funding model for the accelerated completion of this road, and if the funds are made available as expected, we are upbeat that by December 2013, the project will be brought to completion.”
According to the minister, “the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, which was becoming an embarrassment and a source of agony to many Nigerians before the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan because of its deplorable condition, has been improved upon tremendously in the past one year.
“Only last week, I led an inspection team to assess the ongoing works on this road and the current expansion of the road, drainage works, construction of a trailer park and the construction of a dedicated bridge leading into the Tin-Can Island Port from Liverpool Road roundabout were very reassuring.”
But, our correspondent confirmed that the spate of work on the road has drooped in the last few weeks, an attestation to what the minister said on Monday. He also confirmed that work has however reached the Mile Two end of the all-important highway, but added that even though personnel of the construction that is handling the project are still on sight, they are not as engaged as before.
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