Work on Bodo-Bonny road to be completed, with or without Buhari, says Fashola

Minister of works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola (SAN) has said work on Bodo-Bonny Road (BBR) will be completed December 2023 even as he hailed the continued progress on the work, with or without Buhari in office.

Fashola, who spoke during a project inspection tour, said the project would be completed by December next year,

“There is no fear about that and about the funding or the ability and competence of Julius Berger to deliver on the project and in superb quality,” he said.
Stressing that funding for the project comes from the Federal Government’s Tax Credit Scheme into which both Nigeria’s Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) and other big companies, like Dangote and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), are investing.

He said: “We are in Bodo trying to connect to Bonny Island. Contrary to what some people may say, the N200 billion invested in this BBR project is nothing compared to its long-term significance. This is my fourth time here.

“From the first time when I visited to really understand the project at hand, it was alarming that within one state, people could not connect with one another. They were being inhibited. But the Peace Committee set up for the project embraced all the communities in this project area. Thank God, they are all working together now.”

Project Manager for the BBR, Thomas Haug, assured stakeholders that work was progressing and would be delivered on schedule.

He said the scope of work for the Bodo-Bonny Road includes the construction of a 38 km long road through the low-lying swampy area. It features three major bridges of 500m, 780m and 1200m in length and nine mini bridges, a pipeline crossing bridge and multiple pipeline crossings and culverts.

Haug added that after the completion of the Bodo-Bonny Road, it will not only serve as a connection between Bonny and the mainland, it will also connect fishing settlements and villages to the road network, which could only be reached by boat hitherto.

“We are sure this road will have a big impact on this region,” he declared.

Accompanied by the Regional Project Coordinator, Mr. Sam Ngbor, the project manager led the minister and his entourage to inspect the the project from Bodo to Bonny, where the last mini bridge across the Nanabie Creek is being constructed.