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Residents Want Foot Bridges Completed

By Gbenga Akinfenwa
07 February 2016   |   5:40 am
YEARS after it was started, construction by the federal government of pedestrian footways on the Lagos/Abeokuta expressway has been abandoned.
abandoned-foot-bridges

One of the abandoned foot bridges (also below) PHOTOS:AYODELE ADENIRAN

YEARS after it was started, construction by the federal government of pedestrian footways on the Lagos/Abeokuta expressway has been abandoned.

The projects commenced simultaneously at Cement, Dopemu, Iyana-Ipaja and Ile-Epo market over two years ago. Of the four, however, only the Ile-Epo pedestrian bridge was successfully finished.

Months after work stopped, it was rumoured that paucity of funds was to blame. But it later dawned on road users that the sites were abandoned due to litigations from residents.

When The Guardian visited the sites, last week, erected pillars and other unfinished structures posed serious impediment to the free flow of traffic. At Iyana-Ipaja, for instance, motorists had to manage a small section of the road, as a concrete barricade designed to prevent accidents had already taken vital space.

The abandonment of work has resulted in rise in cases of accidents on the road. Fast-moving vehicles have hit hapless pedestrians hoping to make a dash across the road, and some have lost their lives in the process. The Cement-Mongoro axis is particularly notorious, claiming the lives of school children, the elderly and even pregnant women.

Effort to get landlords and property owners to speak on why construction was halted yielded little result. Some respondents were reluctant to disclose the names of property owners or divulge other information. The Guardian, however, learnt that at Cement, a landlord had sued the state government for encroaching on his property.

At Iyana-Ipaja, nobody was willing to speak either. Those who had earlier claimed they were aware some landlords were responsible for litigations that brought the project to a halt, backtracked.

A building housing a transport company and an eatery in the area looked like a property from where complaint over the project might have stemmed. The Manager of the transport company, who refused to disclose his name, denied anything of such had happened. But another man in the building whispered that the matter was still in court. He said the contractors never informed them of the project, until it dawned on them that the building was to be “sacrificed.” He added that the boss had recently acquired the space, and was pressed to sue the government to avoid losing the property.

Many residents pleaded with the government to dialogue with the aggrieved property owners in the interest of the people, who risk their lives and limbs in attempts at crossing the road.

One of them, Ajao Gabriel, urged the parties to dialogue and settle the matter out of court. Another, who claimed to be a landlord in the Dopemu area, flayed government for embarking on the project without undertaking proper consultation. According to him, a detailed Environmental Impact Assessment should have been carried out before construction started.

But a Civil Engineer, Joseph King, noted that no individual or group has any claim to land, in accordance with the Land Use Act. He said that although government should have informed the people before commencement of work, it could at anytime claim any piece of land from anybody.
While the parties slug it out, the road, sadly, may continue to transport more pedestrians to the great beyond.

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