FG to reopen Eko, Marine bridges on Monday

The Federal Government says it would reopen the Marine Beach Bridge and the Eko Bridge in Lagos State after many months of closure for major repairs.

The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, SAN, on Saturday, gave the directive that the two bridges should be reopened to traffic on Monday.

The Eko Bridge and Marine Beach Bridge were shut in March and May respectively for the repair work.

A statement by the ministry’s Director of Press and Publicity, Boade Akinola, said, “After emergency repairs by the FG, Fashola has approved the reopening of Eko, Marine Bridges on Monday.”

The Federal Controller of Works in Lagos, Mr Olukayode Popoola, had last month hinted that the Eko Bridge linking Alaka would be ready for use this month.

He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the emergency rehabilitation work was nearing completion then, noting that the bearings had been replaced along with the expansion joints.

“Before the end of October, we are going to open this section of Eko Bridge (linking Alaka) to traffic,” he said.

Popoola also said, “We have removed the damaged expansion joint on Eko Bridge; we have also removed the bearings and replaced the damaged bearings with new ones.

“It was the bearings that failed initially and that is why we have the piers being worked on. Now, we have put the new bearings and we want to complete the concrete work on the piers.

“Then we will go on top of the bridge and replace the expansion joint before we open it to traffic.”

NAN reports that the Federal Government on March 10 shut the Alaka Bridge linking Eko Bridge in Lagos for emergency repairs to prevent its total collapse.

Officials from both Lagos State and Federal Ministry of Works and their Transportation counterpart met to take the decision for closure of the bridge.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic was said to have delayed the importation of components needed for the repairs.