At long last, the wait is over!!!
Finally, the Federal Government will today (Tuesday)
reopen the Third Mainland Bridge, Lagos, one week ahead of the scheduled
delivery date of November 6, 2012.
The government had partially closed the 3rd Mainland Bridge on July 7 to enable the
contractor, Messrs Boroni Prono and Company Limited, to replace eight
expansion joints on the bridge for a contract sum of N1bn.
The reopening of the bridge will come as a welcome relief to motorists
and commuters, who have had to connect Lagos Island, Victoria Island,
Lekki, Ajah and Epe from different parts of the mainland through Western
Avenue due to restriction of vehicular movement on the bridge from 12
noon to 12am, while opening for movement to the mainland within the same
time.
The Special Adviser to the Minister of Works on Media, Mr. Tony
Ikpasaja, confirmed the reopening of the bridge in a telephone
conversation with our correspondent on Monday.
According to him, the Minister of Works, Mr. Mike Onolememen, will open
the rehabilitated 3rd Mainland bridge to motorists at a ceremony that will also have
in attendance federal and Lagos State government officials and other
stakeholders.
Onolememen had said during an inspection tour of the 3rd Mainland bridge on August
10, “The inspection visit is to track the progress that the contractor
has made; whether actual progress is in line with our planned programme.
I am happy to announce that the physical progress in not only in line
with our programme, but there has been a gain of approximately one week,
which is very commendable.
“It means that if we sustain the momentum, we will be able to deliver
the project ahead of the scheduled delivery date of November 6, 2012.”
He had explained that the Federal Government decided to rehabilitate the 3rd Mainland
bridge, which is the longest and most travelled in the country, because
of its commitment to giving due attention to infrastructure in Lagos
State, which he said was attracting about 53 per cent of commercial
activities in the country.
As parts of efforts to minimise the disruptions to free flow of traffic
in the metropolis, the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority had
deployed 700 officers to the 3rd Mainland bridge and traffic points on the
alternative routes.
Officers of the Nigerian Police, Nigerian Army, Federal Road Safety
Corps and Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps joined their LASTMA
colleagues in managing the attendant traffic.
