The Minister of Works, Engr. David Umahi Tuesday disclosed that the first 47km section of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway will be completed in May 2025. Umahi dropped this hint at a meeting with contractors in Abuja and also dispelled rumours that work had stopped at the project site.
He said the Federal Government had so far disbursed a total sum of N10 billion as compensation to property owners affected by the demolition necessary for the construction of the Highway. The minister also disclosed that the ministry had reduced the project’s size from ten lanes to six as a cost-saving measure for the legacy project. He said: “For the three legacy projects by the administration, the Lagos-Calabar Coastal highway, we have cut down the project size to six lanes, especially from sections two, three, and four, it shows you that we need business.
“Some people have been writing that we have stopped the project. No project is stopped. As we are talking now, over four kilometres of concrete road has been completed on six lanes.
“We had to establish a new path due to complaints made by MTN on its subsea cable and Okuaja community, we had to reroute not to the new alignment, not to the gazetted alignment but far away from the two, and we came back to a new alignment at kilometre 25. “So the work is going and it’s moving smoothly. We have paid the total compensation of close to N10bn.
we are not owing and the contractor is highly commended for a very beautiful job, commitment.