Umahi, Engineers Differ On Diversion Of Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway

Construction and civil engineering senior employees have expressed concern over the sudden diversion of the 750-kilometre Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway venture, abandoning the preliminary design.

Minister of Works Engr. David Umahi had revealed that the freeway can be diverted round Ondo part which is about 40 kilometres to affix the East West highway because of tough terrain.

The minister had in a current engagement with journalists in Abuja mentioned,

“The Lagos-Calabar Coast Highway, you’ve got about 40 kilometers in Ondo part, that part is happening. I’m conscious of petitions towards me saying I diverted the Ondo part. I welcome that. That is the way it’s purported to be, as a result of we’re serving the general public. You are topic to public scrutiny, however the essential factor is whether or not you’re doing the correct factor otherwise you’re doing the mistaken factor, you understand.

“We haven’t any remorse for choices taken at Ondo. For us, it’s your proper to put in writing a petition. It’s my proper to take the correct determination, as a result of when folks topic me to public scrutiny by asking me what’s the price per kilometer, and also you need me to go by, you understand, a terrain that you’ve got over 100 meters of pits deep, and I’ve no outlined sharp sand to 300 meters, and also you count on the price of one kilometer of route passing by a standard terrain to be the identical price with that.

So we needed to do very severe engineering determination, and that’s by making a detour, redesigning it to keep away from such, you understand, route. We are pleased that work is happening.”

This got here amid persistent questions over the venture’s general price, development course of, environmental approvals and the federal government’s capability to finish the freeway.

LEADERSHIP contacted the particular assistant to the minister, Mr Francis Nwaze, to confirm the minister’s place however he as a substitute directed this reporter to the minister’s interview with Arise Television.

The minister  throughout  the interview clarified that there was no complete engineering design overlaying the complete freeway, which the federal authorities has introduced as one in every of President Bola Tinubu’s flagship infrastructure tasks.

He mentioned the Lagos-Calabar has no single engineering design, greater than two years after development started in March 2024, insisting that the venture is being designed and costed part by part.

However, the president, Construction and civil engineering senior  employees affiliation (CCESSA) Engr Ayodeji Adeyemo, lamented the sudden determination regardless of the destruction of properties with the intention to give manner for the highway venture.

He queried the sudden change and questioned why the unique design can be jettisoned after demolishing folks’s companies.

He mentioned, “The implications are quite a few and expensive. It will equally result in enhance within the supply time. More man hours are wanted for the venture to be accomplished.

“Yes, Nigerians ought to all be involved. What are the defects of the unique route? What necessitated the re-routing? Many non-public properties have been destroyed to pave manner for the unique route, what number of extra properties are to be destroyed once more? Is this not an financial waste? Many sources of livelihood have been destroyed.

“My advice is for the Ministry of Works to carry out detailed studies and investigations before dabbling into a project like this magnitude.”

The minister whereas defending the price of the primary part, mentioned a normal carriageway comprising two lanes would price about $5.5m per kilometre (N7.3bn), based mostly on his comparability with a coastal freeway venture in neighbouring Benin Republic.

He, nevertheless, challenged using an estimated common price to calculate the price of the complete 750km freeway, arguing that the terrain, bridges and engineering necessities differed throughout sections.

“There is no single design of any road project that came out, you know, in reality, at the end of the project, the way it was designed,” Umahi mentioned.

Asked immediately whether or not there was an engineering design overlaying the complete Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, he replied, “So these are the procedures. So there is no one single design that the 750 kilometres of Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway is holding. There’s no one single design.”

He defined that the freeway had been conceived way back to 1955, whereas the idea was gazetted in 2006. However, he maintained that he had not discovered a whole engineering design, subsoil investigation or different detailed technical paperwork overlaying the complete route within the ministry’s archives.

Umahi mentioned the Federal Executive Council-approved procurement association required the venture to be procured part by part, including that the strategy made it inappropriate to multiply an estimated common price by the complete 750km.

“Who fixed this N15tn that people are just, you know, brandishing everywhere? Who fixed it? And let me also clarify that nobody has the right to do an average cost and multiply by 750,” he mentioned.

Explaining his price comparability, Umahi referred to a 47km part of the freeway and a 47.47km coastal highway in Benin Republic, which he mentioned price N1.06tn.

He cited a determine of about N7.5bn per kilometre for a three-carriageway configuration and adjusted it to estimate the price of a normal two-lane carriageway.

The minister put the adjusted price at roughly $5.5m per kilometre, based mostly on an trade fee of N1,330 to the greenback.

He mentioned variations in highway configuration and venture specs have to be thought-about earlier than evaluating the prices of the 2 tasks.

On environmental approvals, Umahi confirmed that development started after the ministry obtained a provisional Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) certificates, explaining {that a} remaining certificates would comply with because the venture progressed and excellent necessities have been addressed.

“Every project has provisional ESIA,” he mentioned, including that environmental points, resettlement and different related programmes have been thought-about throughout implementation.

He maintained that environmental assessments have been being dealt with part by part somewhat than by a single evaluation overlaying the complete 750km route. He additionally mentioned the ministry had obtained remaining environmental approval for the primary 47km part.

The freeway has attracted criticism over its price, route and environmental implications since work commenced. The authorities has defended it as a significant transport hall supposed to enhance connectivity alongside Nigeria’s shoreline.

Umahi additionally clarified remarks about an extra 400km linked to the venture, following questions on whether or not Tinubu had ordered a diversion from the unique route.

The minister mentioned the extra stretch concerned connecting the coastal freeway to the prevailing East-West Road by Edo State, somewhat than abandoning the unique alignment.

“The alignment is intact,” he mentioned, insisting that Edo remained a part of the route involving Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross River states.

He acknowledged that describing the connection as a diversion was inaccurate, explaining that the intention was to supply a spur linking the freeway to the East-West Road.

“It’s to also put a spur. The word divert, if I used that then it’s a slip of the tongue. We are talking about the connection of the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway, we are connecting it also to have a spur on the East-West Road,” Umahi mentioned.

He added that the connection would offer another route and assist the reconstruction of the East-West Road, components of which he mentioned had deteriorated and fallen beneath flood ranges.

The minister mentioned design work on the connection was ongoing, sustaining that it shouldn’t be confused with the unique 750km coastal freeway.