The Federal Government has stated that the recent fuel scarcity and cash shortage in the country were unforeseen factors that stalled the completion of the Lagos -Ibadan expressway.
The Federal Controller of Works, Lagos, Umar Bakare, said this while speaking during a live programme on Channels Television on Friday.
Bakare made it known that they were on course to complete the Expressway project, but the CBN’s monetary policies as well as the fuel scarcity were responsible for the slow pace.
“The first phase of the project is for us to deliver from 7Up which is point 00 of the project up until the Shagamu interchange to deliver the main carriageway. We had earlier promised to deliver at the end of this quarter.
“We did not envisage the fuel shortage issue that affected the progress of work, the cash crunch issue that affected the progress of work at some point,” he said.
The Controller also revealed that he was optimistic the inconveniences motorists were experiencing on the highway would reduce come April for the partial completion.
Despite last week’s assurance by the Lagos State Government to partner with the Federal Government to ease the situation, especially around the Kara Bridge/Berger-OPIC axis, motorists have lamented the supposed slow pace at which work is taking place which has led to gridlock.
On his action plans to have the Lagos-Ibadan expressway completed in due time, Mr. Bakare said talks were ongoing to have the contractor work past dusk and these talks had been yielding good results.
He said, “These days the contractor is working from morning to night in other to be able to achieve complete and deliver these projects in good time.
“We have been discussing with the contractor about night work, of course, the issue of security is one of the things we are looking at critically,
“Recently, the contractor has agreed to work late into the night although not overnight. In the past week, they have been working up until 9 pm in some of the locations where we are working now,”