From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Federal Government has disclosed that Second Niger Bridge, which was billed for completion last month but was delayed due to the COVID-19 lockdown and #EndSARS protests, is now at 91 per cent completion.
Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, made this disclosure Thursday during the Special Weekly briefing coordinated by the Presidential Communications Team at the State House Abuja.
The briefing was to enable him to provide further updates on key collaborations between the Federal Government and the State Governments in the implementation of some of the major reforms being executed by the Ministry and the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF).
According to him, 1,486 people have been directly employed for the Second Niger Bridge while another 8,110 indirect jobs have been created.
He puts the cost of three major PIDF projects at N1.3 trillion. The projects are Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Expressway (375km): N797 billion, Second Niger Bridge (11.59km): N206 billion and Lagos-Ibadan Expressway (127km): N310 billion.
On when the projects will be completed, Fashola said that Lagos Ibadan Express Way and Second Niger Bridge are on course to be completed this year 2022, while the main Carriageway of Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano expressway is scheduled for completion by Q2 2023, adding that ancillary works will be completed later.
Meanwhile, the minister has warned motorists to shelve the temptation to exceed 100km/h on completed roads, to avoid crashes.
He said the warning became necessary when he got messages from some of the road users commending the quality of work done, who said they were doing 150 100km/h due to the smoothness of the roads.
He also decried the sale of Premium Motor Spirit and other petroleum products on the roads, saying they deteriorate the roads faster.