Third Mainland Bridge gets N6.3bn two-year maintenance approval

Third Mainland Bridge gets N6.3bn two-year maintenance approval

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the sum of N6.3 billion for a two-year maintenance of the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos.

The council also agreed to N49 billion as a revised sum for the old Enugu-Onitsha road project.

Minister of Works and Housing,  Babatunde Fashola, said this while briefing the State House correspondents after the FEC meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The minister said the maintenance would address public concerns about the presence of potholes on the bridge.

The News Agency of Nigeria quoted him as saying, “This was approved in the sum of N6.3 billion for a period of 24 months. This is in consonance with Executive Order 11 signed by the President for the continued maintenance of public infrastructure.

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“And this contract responds to the questions on potholes that have become manifest on the entire pavement of the deck of the bridge spanning 11 kilometres and the interchanges —Adeniji Adele, Adekunle and Gbagada ramps that all link the bridge; this is for the resurfacing of all that.

“Those who are familiar with the bridge will recall that all of these failures were not this manifest on the bridge as at the time we did some work; and the work that we did concentrated largely on the sub-structure of the bridge—the piles, the underwater piles; the pile caps and also the replacement of the expansion joints and the bearings.’’

Fashola noted that the maintenance work was critical to the structural integrity of the bridge and would restore the driving surface and the aesthetics.

“Some of the rails that have been stolen; some of the planes that have misaligned at the ramps that lead you on and off the bridge,” he said.

He said the old Enugu-Onitsha road project was from Opi junction all the way to Udi-Oji to Anambra border in Enugu State.

“The augmentation was in the sum of N17 billion which revised the contract sum to N49 billion with an additional completion time of 42 months,’’ Fashola said.

Third Mainland Bridge gets N6.3bn two-year maintenance approval