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Workmen at night: Motorists bemoan traffic snarl along Oworo-7up Express way

By Bertram Nwannekanma
02 June 2022   |   4:07 am
It was hellish on Monday night for motorists plying Oworonshoki-7UP section of Lagos-Ibadan Expressway as they spent between one and two hours within 100 metre radius on traffic due to ongoing construction along the axis.

Construction workers on night duty, near 7UP, along Oworonsoki- Ojota –Berger Expressway PHOTO: BERTRAM NWANNEKANMA

• Say it encourages traffic robbery, task contractor on quick delivery  
• FG pleads for patience

It was hellish on Monday night for motorists plying Oworonshoki-7UP section of Lagos-Ibadan Expressway as they spent between one and two hours within 100 metre radius on traffic due to ongoing construction along the axis.
    
For over six months, motorists who are out-bound Lagos are made to face hard time because Hitech Construction Company, the subcontractor handling the project on behalf of the Dangote Group, opted for night construction ostensibly to ease traffic.
   
While the decision to work at night makes some sense, motorists, especially those travelling outside Lagos, said they are not reaping the benefits. They lament that there is no consideration for alternatives for a road, whose traffic load is quite high.
 

   
They also complained that the contractor has slowed down the pace of work in the last two months.
   
One of them, Moshood Aremu, said as work is nearing the 7Up exit point,  motorists, who often access the road through  Ikorodu Express road are now trapped without an alternative exit, thereby compounding the traffic snarl.
    
Aremu, who drives a haulage truck from Lagos to Benin, complained that he normally hits the road to avoid the Oworonshoki section before 10:00 p.m. when construction is expected to start, as the contractor works between 10.00p.m. and 4:00a.m, but was trapped at about 9.30p.m. on Monday night as construction started earlier than expected.   
 
He stressed that the Federal Government should have compelled the contractor to be fast in the section considering the impact on motorists going out of Lagos, who leave more at night, or open up the in-bound section that is less in traffic during the night construction.
  
Another motorist, Matthew Ade, who works in the Island but lives at Omole Estate, Ojodu, said he always meets traffic on his way from work, even when he thought the road should be free.
  
He narrated how hoodlums capitalised on the situation around Ketu Bridge to attack him with cutlass and disposed of him and his partner of their belongings.
 
Apart from him, Ade said many motorists were robbed in the traffic last week without the presence of policemen at about 10.30p.m.
 
He said: “ It was hellish spending so much time on traffic after work only to find out that the road is free in the front, because the contractors have limited the four lanes to one.

“The worst is that the contractor has been at that spot for three months without much work, while hoodlums have their field day. This cannot happen in other climes,” he fumed.
  
Also, commenting, a civil engineer and former Chairman of Apapa Branch of Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Dr. Ombugadu Garba said the contractor should have provided measures to take care of the traffic envisaged in such a busy road like Lagos –Ibadan Expressway  that has large traffic load.
  
While applauding the firm for adopting night construction, he said adequate measures should be put in place to reduce the rate of traffic on the road.
 
He said: “ When you are doing that kind of construction, you should know that any obstruction will have a regimental effect when it comes to traffic flow. They are supposed to provide an alternative, while that construction is going on.
 
“If it is not possible then they must mark a place dedicated where vehicles would pass irrespective of whether they are doing construction or not, then they need to send their men that will adequately provide for traffic guides. In Lagos roads that are supposed to have three lanes, once you narrow to two lanes, it will still have an effect. If you have a proper plan for traffic flow, it will reduce the rate of traffic, but I do not think they are giving it adequate attention.”
     
But a senior official of the firm told The Guardian that the disruption of traffic on the road has got nothing to do with the construction work, but it was the unruly behaviour of drivers themselves.
 
He said the decision to start from 10:00pm and finish at  about 4 or  5:00am in the morning was to avoid  disruption to traffic.

Also, the Federal Controller of Works, Lagos, Mr. Olukayode Popoola, who is supervising the project, appealed for more patience, stressing that the project will soon be completed because it will soon be linked to the former toll gate, which is the end for that section, while section two from Cele   will soon be completed.
 
He stressed that there’s no place to put the diversion and they are just managing it. They will soon get out of that place.
   
“I want to encourage motorists to please bear with us as the contractor has been working hard and will soon cross over that place.
 


“The work was delayed because of the economic situation in the country. The contractor uses diesel a lot and there was a time diesel was not available, and then the price was also high.  It pays the contractor to finish work on time, because they make more profit when they finish on time, but there are so many conditions militating against completing the project as scheduled, especially the nature of our economy. So, it’s not their making,” he added,
 
Recall that the contract was awarded to AG Dangote Construction Company Ltd at the cost of N73bn under the Tax Credit Scheme of the Federal Government.
   
The Federal Government had earlier said that the first phase of the Apapa-Oshodi-Ojota-Oworonshoki project, which has suffered delays, would be delivered in April 2021.
   
The government said that sections one, three and four of the project were almost ready and would be completed in April 2021. That was then.
    
They had also said that section two of the project which spans from Beach Land bus stop area to Cele Bus Stop, which was recently awarded would also be completed in December 2021.

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