Federal Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has blamed the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) sit-at-home order in the South East for the non-completion of the second Niger bridge.
Newsonline reports that Fashola said contractors had to work from Tuesdays to Saturdays instead of starting work on Mondays but for IPOB sit-at-home order.
The former governor of Lagos State said this while speaking on Channels TV Sunrise daily programme on Wednesday (today).
Fashola promised that the Federal government and the contractor in charge of the second Niger bridge are committed to rounding-off work between April and May of 2023.
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Fashola said, “these dates keep shifting and people must remember that on the eastern side, our contractors have not been able to work on Mondays for almost two years and that has affected the completion date.”
He said a 52-day loss by workers as a result of the sit-at-home order of IPOB cannot easily be made up for in construction work.
The minister said other challenges like relocating transmission lines connecting the East to the West across the Niger River, also affected the completion of second Niger bridge as planned.
The Minister of Works and Housing promised that the last 4km stretch of the road will be finished in four months.
He added that the construction is taking place in a marshland and as such, there is great need for dredging and sand filling, process which he says cannot be rushed.
Fashola disclosed that the reason the ministry and its contractors have made great progress on the road so far, is because they have employed the use of Prefabricated Vertical Drains which accelerate settlement and drainage and as such, workers can start building quicker than would ordinarily have been expected.
He maintained that the second Niger bridge will be tolled after construction. He said money generated from the toll gate fee will be used to maintain to bridge for durability.
