FG’ll complete Apapa-Oshodi Expressway next year – Minister

The Federal Government on Tuesday said that the contract for the rehabilitation of the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway in Lagos State would be completed in December 2013.

The Minister of Works, Mr. Mike Onolememen, disclosed this in Abuja at the Ministerial Platform to commemorate Democracy Day and one year in office of President Goodluck Jonathan.

Present at the platform were the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, his counterpart at the Ministry of Transport, Senator Idris Umar, as well as other key government officials.

In recent times, commuters plying the road, which leads to the Apapa Ports, have been experiencing hardship occasioned by perennial traffic gridlock caused by the bad state of the road.

The assurance on the completion of the rehabilitation of the road came just as the Transport minister stated that the Federal Government’s intervention in the rehabilitation of the rail sector had yielded positive results.

For instance, he said in 2009, a total of 1.285 million passengers were transported though the rail system.

The figure, Umar said, rose to 1.514 million in 2010 and 3.49 million in 2011.

For the first quarter of 2012, the minister said that a total of 965,147 passengers were transported through the rail system.

However, to enable the Federal Government adequately complete the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway within the stipulated time, Onolememen said a new funding arrangement was proposed by the ministry to the National Economic Management Team.

The NEMT, according to him, has given approval for the project to be funded under the new arrangement.

The minister said, “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.”

He added, “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.”

The minister, who said he inherited about 168 ongoing projects valued at N960bn upon assumption of office a year ago, noted that within the last six months, 16 of such projects had been completed.

“From the 160 ongoing projects we inherited, we have pursued diligent execution of the prioritised projects, ensuring that adequate progress is being made towards completing them on schedule