FG shifts delivery of Lagos-Ibadan expressway to November – Umahi… 

The Minister of Works, David Umahi said the Federal Government has shifted the delivery of Lagos-Ibadan Expressway to November.

The minister identified funding as a major challenge facing the project and promised that his ministry would soon approach President Bola Tinubu for intervention.

Umahi also said the continuous pilling of asphalt on the Third Mainland Bridge could cause vehicles to overturn.

According to him, the federal government had earlier said the Lagos-Ibadan road project would be delivered in mid-September after multiple deadlines.

He said, “Let’s give it to November. We may have a little bit of challenges on funding but it is something that I intend to discuss with Mr President.”

He noted that the funding will come from the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) programme.

“Right now, we have a balance of N18 billion on that axis to pay. The stringent condition is that you cannot take funds that are meant for one project to do the other one,” he said.

Umahi stressed the importance of concrete roads, saying that the federal government was considering using concrete for the construction of major roads across the country.

The former Ebonyi state governor explained that the importation of bitumen was putting more pressure on the naira, maintaining that many roads built on concrete have a life span of 50 years.

Umahi noted that Tinubu, who served as Lagos governor between 1999 to 2007, was one of the pioneers of concrete roads in the country.