Issues surrounding the reconstruction of Lagos–Ibadan Expressway, to say the least, evoke so much passion, anger, frustration and sometimes despondency in Nigerians, given the tales of woes recorded on it. In this report, we examine the present state of the road and preview what may happen next.
When the immediate-past president Goodluck Jonathan flagged off the reconstruction of the Lagos–Ibadan expressway in July, 2013, after the Federal Government cancelled the initial arrangement of concessionaire with Bi-Courtney Consortium, many motorists had thought the move will help to reduce the travel time of hundreds of thousands of commuters and international air passengers that groan daily on the road for one reason or the other.
More so that the contract was awarded to Julius Berger Nigeria and Reynolds Construction Company Ltd, who are construction giants at a whopping sum of N167 billion, equivalent to $838.986290.
In the contract agreement, two sections of the expressway were captured to be reconstructed and these include Section I (Lagos to Sagamu Interchange) and Section II (Sagamu Interchange to Ibadan).
Before the people knew it, the initial euphoria that greeted the new reconstruction bid waned and resulted in the slow pace of work, low quality of job delivery, leaving the motorists with the challenges of plying the route described as the busiest highway in Nigeria at their own peril.
What baffles many observers of the unfolding scenario on the expressway is that the importance of the 105 kilometre expressway cannot be overstated given the fact that the it is a major link road from Lagos, the commercial nerve centre of the country to other states.
Over the years, the reconstruction of the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway, a 127.6-kilometre-long that specifically connects Ibadan, another big city and capital of Oyo State and Lagos State has been shrouded in controversies and politicking, much to the suffering of motorists and commuters alike.
It was learnt that the contract was stuck due to the inability of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration to fund the project.
Apart from the issue of funding, the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) also faulted the re-concession of the road to Julius Berger Plc and Reynolds Construction Company (RCC) despite a pending legal dispute.
Though the Jonathan-led administration pledged to release N50 billion for the project in 2013 and 2014, the government was said to have provided only a guarantee to Infrastructure Bank to facilitate the release of N117 billion to Berger and RCC.
The reason why the two construction giants cannot be blamed to have abandoned the project is because they have been unable to get up to N10 billion since the bank has been trying to limit its risk exposure because of the legal tussle about the project.
To buttress this fact, the Infrastructure Bank Plc Managing Director Adekunle Oyinloye had inter-alia said the Federal Government had directed the bank to raise N167 billion for the reconstruction of the dual carriageway.
“The project is now to be completed in a record time of 24 to 30 months as against the 48 months initially proposed by the contractors,” Oyinloye said.
According to him, ICRC’s objection is that the government ought to have concluded the termination of the contract with Bi-Courtney Consortium before awarding the contract.
“And any re-concession must go through public bidding. In this instance, it was unilaterally awarded by the government.
“Since the project is still in dispute between the Federal Government and Bi-Courtney, any action taken will be subjudice. Any pronouncement by a court or an arbitration court can create more hurdles for all the parties involved.
“This is the mess inherited by President Muhammadu Buhari. His administration has to find a solution to the problem or else the project will be stalled further,” he said.
As the motorists take their destinies in their hands to move in one direction or the other in desperation to get to their destinations, it was not surprising when on March 22, this year an auto crash claimed seven lives and injured 20 others along the expressway around Danco Petroleum Filling Station.
Though the former president had at the commencement of the project, charged the construction companies to do an efficient job, in terms of reconstruction and expansion of the expressway that was billed to be completed then in 48 months, the impression from motorists showed that they are not satisfied with the pace and quality of work being done on the road.
Without mincing words, the former president had assured that, ‘’We are ready to bequeath to Nigerians a better and more durable road after 35 years when the first construction was made and completed.
“This event reflects government’s commitment to practically and relentlessly meet the yearnings of people and improve the national transport infrastructure.’’
Contrary to this assurance, Uyi Favour, one of the teeming intra-state transporters that move over 200,000 passengers from different parts of the country and continent into the state everyday said the activities of the construction companies needed to be examined.
“What we read and heard the federal government told the contractors and the delivery time and quality of the expressway is nothing to write home about. I am not an expert on construction matters but I am not impressed with the quality of the roads, and the pain it causes us.
“For God’s sake this is a federal government project. How can a road constructed not up to a year start breaking up and having pot holes? Don’t they have resident engineers that monitor what they are doing? That is what the present government should do. There are some roads constructed a long time ago in this country and still very motorable. But nowadays, the government construct road this year, next year, the same road is being patched,” he said.
Another motorist, Gabriel Adekumbi said the traffic on the road has discouraged him from visiting his family in Ibadan these days.
He said, “The traffic situation on that road is a big problem. The number of hours spent in the traffic is killing. It is only in this country that one travels and be afraid of not dying. You see, these trailer drivers, desperate, always rushing, moving from one lane to the other with their big trucks. What you get at the end are accidents and damaged road.
“What I also found not acceptable is the idea of the contractors closing a substantial part of the road. You won’t see them working on the road, yet the road remained closed and people are left to be using one lane. That is what causes traffic on the road.”
In the last few weeks, hope of motorists seemed to have been rekindled as the two construction firms, Julius Berger Plc and RCC who had abandoned the project after the former administration left office, suddenly resurfaced on site in continuation of the re-construction of the N167 billion Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
Presence of workmen were noticed on the road to ascertain the pace of work being done on the road.
Construction work was noticed at the Redemption Camp and Arepo areas at the Lagos end of the road, even as some palliative works were also ongoing at the failed spots in the Redemption Camp area of the road
At Arepo end, major construction work was being done by the construction companies.
While Julius Berger is handling Section One of the project, which stretches from Shagamu Inter-Change to Lagos, RCC is in charge of Section Two, stretching from Shagamu Inter-Change to Ojoo, Ibadan.
So far the repair of the failed sections has greatly brought relief to motorists now yearning for early completion of the road which is the busiest highway in the country.
It was gathered that the Federal Government had met with the management of both Julius Berger and RCC and had agreed to ensure that the project, which is being financed through Public and Private Partnership (PPP) is completed in July 3, 2017.
Motorists and commuters who spoke with our correspondent at separate interviews appealed to the government to speed up work to make travelling on the road pleasurable.
Many of them are of the belief that with the coming on board of Mr. Babatunde Fashola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria as Works and Housing Minister, the construction would soon be completed, given his pedigree in handling such difficult and contentious projects tangled with litigation when he was the Lagos State governor.
-Leadership