Ikeja bridge to be delivered two months ahead of deadline, says Sanwo-Olu

• Orders contractors to deliver Blue, Red Rail projects on schedule
• Railway projects not APC ploy for votes in 2023, says Amaechi

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, yesterday, revealed that the Ikeja overpass bridge would be delivered a month or two before the end of August 2022, the initial deadline.

The project aims to ease the pains of commuters plying the Agege-Motor Road.

Speaking after inspecting sections of the Blue and Red lines rail project, Sanwo-Olu said the state government has asked the contractor to complete the job ahead of the earlier deadline. According to him, marching orders have been given to keep to the timelines.

The governor, who was at the overpass bridge, and the Yaba, Oyingbo and Marina train terminals, commended contractors for keeping to timelines and working even on a public holiday.

He said the quarterly inspection was part of efforts to ensure contractors delivered the projects on time or a month or two ahead of the scheduled delivery date.

At Yaba, the governor told traders they would be relocated. He urged them not to be apprehensive but rather cooperate with the government.

The governor was accompanied by commissioners, special advisers and heads of agencies, including Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso; and Budget and Planning, Sam Egube.

MEANWHILE, Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has said the vigour with which the Federal Government is working to connect the country by rail should not be misconstrued as a ploy to sway Nigerians to vote for the ruling party in the 2023 general elections.

Amaechi had earlier identified ethnic biases and politicisation as some of the factors hindering railway development in the country.

But while inspecting the ongoing construction of the Kano-Kaduna railway project, he said: “I have told people, don’t politicise railway project. Don’t make it look as if there are political motives behind the construction.”

According to him, “as a government, we are determined to deliver on projects, once the resources are there.”

The minister noted that the aim of inspecting the project was to see if the contractor, China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC), was on track to deliver the project by the end of 2022 or in the first quarter of 2023.

He said all affected lands belonging to individuals or otherwise have been fully compensated, as the first item on the implementation strategy for the 206 km project was provision for complete compensation. He dared anyone that has not been fully compensated to write to the ministry.

The minister, who also visited the ongoing $50 million University of Transportation project in Daura, Katsina State, being executed by CCECC, expressed dismay at the level of work.

He said: “We have invited them to the office on Tuesday (today) to come and explain why, instead of taking the buildings at the same time, they are taking just two hostels, two classrooms, staff quarters, one laboratory and one office complex. That is not enough.”