Julius Berger: Lagos-Ibadan expressway will be completed by 2021

Thamm Olaf, operations manager, Julius Berger, says the Shagamu-Lagos end of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway project will be completed by 2021.

According to PUNCH, Olaf said this when the senate committee on works inspected the project on Sunday.

He was quoted to have said the project, which was supposed to be completed in 2017, was stalled due to paucity of funds and the recent expansion.

The senate committee, led by Kabiru Gaya, its chairman, reportedly expressed the committee’s dissatisfaction with the slow pace of work despite the efforts and funds that had been put into it.

Gaya said the federal government had spent a lot of money on the road and others across the country, adding that in order to accommodate more road construction, the cost of road infrastructure was increased from N500bn to N600bn.

“The project is good as it will take care of traffic but we are not happy with the speed and so we expect the contractor to increase the pace of work, even though there were amendments on the road,” he said.

Gaya also disclosed that the contractor of the Tin Can Island Truck Park, Borini Prono, said that the project, which is expected to ease traffic congestion around Apapa wharf, would be completed in December.

He said the project had reached 97 percent completion while construction of the shoreline had commenced.

“When we visited this site in 2015, the construction was less than 70 percent; now it is 97 percent because money has been paid and we insist that it must be finished by December,” he said.

“We have also said that the facilities are not good enough for a trailer park; there should be more toilets, restaurant and even a small clinic.”