Nigeria’s Minister of Works, David Umahi, has mentioned there is no such thing as a single engineering design overlaying all the 750-kilometre Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, explaining that detailed designs, environmental research and soil investigations are being undertaken part by part because the undertaking progresses.
Speaking in an interview with ARISE News Anchor Ojy Okpe, Umahi mentioned misconceptions in regards to the nature of the undertaking had fuelled questions over its alignment, value and environmental approvals.
“There is no one single design for the 750 km of Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway,” Umahi mentioned.
He defined that what existed earlier than the Tinubu administration commenced building was primarily an idea for a coastal route, reasonably than a accomplished engineering design for each kilometre between Lagos and Calabar.
“What was done in 2006 was a concept,” the minister mentioned, explaining that the route had been gazetted however nonetheless required detailed engineering work earlier than particular person sections may very well be constructed.
According to Umahi, the federal government consequently carries out the mandatory environmental and engineering research for every part earlier than continuing with building.
“You have to do the ESIA, you have to do the soil investigation, you have to do the engineering design,” he mentioned.
Umahi mentioned this section-by-section method additionally meant that the federal government couldn’t merely take the price of the portion at the moment underneath building in Lagos and multiply it throughout all the 750 kilometres to reach at a definitive value for the freeway.
He rejected claims that all the undertaking would value about ₦15 trillion, questioning the premise on which such a determine had been calculated.
“Who fixed the ₦15 trillion?” Umahi requested, arguing that the terrain, engineering necessities and constructions differ considerably from one part of the freeway to a different.
The minister mentioned the Federal Government was procuring the undertaking in sections and will due to this fact solely decide prices as particular person sections have been designed and permitted.
He pointed to the engineering variations already recognized alongside the route, together with bridges and troublesome terrain, as proof {that a} uniform per-kilometre value couldn’t moderately be utilized throughout all the freeway.
Umahi additionally addressed questions surrounding the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment for the undertaking, insisting that an ESIA didn’t must be accomplished as a single doc overlaying all 750 kilometres earlier than building may start.
“There is no single ESIA for the entire 750 kilometres,” he mentioned, explaining that provisional environmental assessments are undertaken for the related sections earlier than work begins, with the method persevering with as designs are finalised.
That phased method is per an evidence given by Minister of State for Environment Iziaq Salako in an ARISE News interview in May 2024. Salako mentioned on the time that due to the size of the freeway, environmental certification could be undertaken in phases and that preliminary approval had been issued for preliminary works.
Umahi mentioned Section One now had its full environmental evaluation and maintained that the federal government was complying with the required environmental processes as building progressed.
The minister’s clarification comes amid renewed scrutiny of the freeway’s route via the Niger Delta following controversy over whether or not parts of the unique coastal alignment had been deserted in favour of the present East-West Road.
The Federal Government has since insisted that the 750km alignment stays intact and that the proposed reconstruction of about 400 kilometres of the East-West Road is a further undertaking reasonably than a substitute for the Coastal Highway. It has additionally mentioned survey and design work stays underway on excellent parts via Edo, Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers.
Umahi equally insisted within the interview that the Coastal Highway remained a 750-kilometre undertaking even if detailed designs for all parts weren’t accomplished concurrently.
He mentioned the federal government’s method was to design, procure and assemble particular person sections as the mandatory engineering and environmental work was accomplished.
Demola Ojo
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