According to the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, the Lagos-Ibadan expressway is being delayed because of a drainage channel being built across the road by the Oyo State Government in its Ibadan axis.
The Minister made the announcement on Wednesday in Abuja at the launch of President Muhammadu Buhari’s Administration Scorecard 2015-2023 Series, which his Ministry of Information and Culture organized.
The scorecard series, which includes Ministers and top government officials, is intended to highlight the administration’s accomplishments as it winds down.
Fashola stated that the 127.6km expressway had made significant progress and urged motorists and commuters to bear the delays at the Ibadan and Lagos axis, respectively.
“The Oyo State Government is building a drainage channel across the road, so we are having difficulties because the contractor has slowed down and we have to slow down too.
“We do not want to finish the road and come back to destroy it for the drainage channel construction.
“On the Lagos axis, we are working on the last six kilometres into Lagos, a very highly densely populated area.
“We left it for the last because we knew it to be the most difficult.
“We are appealing that you bear with us and we are hoping that very soon there will be relief there,’’ he said.
The Minister said the two axis were the last finishing touches to the completion of the project and it would be delivered soon.
Speaking on the Bodo-Bonny Island road project in Rivers State, the minister said for centuries, the island had not been accessible by road until Buhari’s administration.
“This is the island where the famous King Jaja of Opobo used to dominate centuries ago.
“Bonny Island is one of the places where very vast resources are produced in the economy of Nigeria in terms of natural gas.
“For the first time, this government is building a road and jetties of 39 kilometres combined into the island.
Fashola assured timely completion of the project, which he said would offer neighbouring communities reliable access to Bodo town, improve socio-economic connectivity and commerce in the area
“Bodo-Bonny road will be the first to connect oil-rich Bonny Island to mainland Rivers State, a major landmark in the region’s history.
“The construction of this road runs through the most difficult of terrains and other challenging environmental factors like a 7km low-lying marshy land with tidal movements,” he added.