**As FRSC may return to Ministry of Works and Housing
By Harry Awurumibe, Editor Abuja Bureau
The federal government has approved the total sum of N23.3 billion for contract cost revision by way of augmentation for the old Enugu-Onitsha road, from Opi Junction, all the way to Udi-Oji to Anambra state border in Enugu state and also a fresh contract for the maintenance of the pavement of the Third Mainland Bridge in Nigeria.
Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola stated this while briefing State House Correspondents after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by Vice President Professor Yemi Osinbajo at Presidential Villa Abuja on Wednesday.
Said he: “We presented two memoranda to Council and both were approved. The first was with regard to contract cost revision by way of augmentation for the old Enugu/Onitsha Road, from Opi Junction, all the way to Udi Oji to Anambra border in Enugu state.
“The augmentation was in the sum of N17,050,000,000, which revised the contract to N48,996,488,925 Naira with an additional completion time of 42 months”.
Speaking further, Fashola said that the second contract Council approved for the ministry was a fresh contract for the maintenance of the pavement of the Third Mainland Bridge and this was approved in the sum of N6,278,063,585.58 for a period of 24 months.
He said this is in consonance with the Executive Order 11 signed by President Muhammadu Buhari for the continued maintenance of public infrastructure in Nigeria.
Said he: “Now, some of you might ask, I was asked before that, okay, we did some work on Third Mainland Bridge before, why were there potholes now on it? So, this contract is in response to the potholes that have become manifest on the entire pavement of the deck of the bridge, spanning 11 kilometers and the interchanges at Adeniji Adele, Adekunle, and Gbagada ramps that all link the bridge.
“This is for the resurfacing and all of that. Those who are familiar with the bridge will recall that all of these failings were not this manifest on the bridge at the time we were doing the work we were doing”.
According to him: “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 joint and the bearings. These are maintenance works that are critical to the structural integrity of the bridge.
“What we’re dealing with now is different. It is the driving surface and the aesthetics, some of the rails that have been stolen, some of the planes that are misaligned at ramps that lead you on and off the bridge. So, this is the work that is being done now.
“So, all the experience of avoiding potholes on the bridge, this award of contract will tackle that”.
Asked if Nigeria has cameras to man bridges and other places as applicable in other countries to forestall the vandalisation of public infrastructure, the Minister said what exists currently are some levels of manual patrols of the public infrastructure like roads, buildings and bridges.
“Currently , what exists are some levels of manual patrols. And these are some of the debates that we had in Council today. How, by legislation, such as the Federal Road Safety Commission Act, the law enforcement and securing of federal highways have been taken away from the Ministry of Works and vested in Federal Road Safety Corps, which is now domiciled in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF) under the Presidency. So, there is need to realign those ministerial oversights”, Fashola revealed.
Throwing more light on the proposal, he said: “One of my proposals today for consideration and recommendation to the next government is to move the Federal Road Safety Corps away from the SGF and let it become a parastatal supervised by the Ministry of Works, whoever that may be, so that there is a proper alignment of responsibility because if you build the road, somebody has statutory responsibility to secure it. That person better reports to the main organ instead of through a third or remote organisation.
“But one of the things you might find also is as fibre optic capacity increases, then it will be easier to install cameras because cameras need remote monitoring to carry images and I know that Lagos State is rolling out very, very massively in terms of fiber optic. So, I think we will get there sooner rather than later.
On if there will be closures or shutdown of the bridge during those 24 months of repair work on the bridge, he said:
“When the formal contracts are drawn and the contractor is going to mobilise to the site, we normally work with the Lagos state government. We have a close working relationship with the government and also with their agencies. We do a lot of communication to the commutteeing public in Lagos using national and state agencies especially the Lagos Traffic Radio.
“I am not able to say categorically now, what the methods statement would be in terms of closures or no closures. I can reasonably anticipate diversions and some traffic management.
“But what we try to do is to ensure that since it is scarifying largely and resurfacing, it can be done over weekend, wherever there is the need to have unimpeded work area. We’ve tried that before. We close down on Fridays and reopen early Monday.
“I think that will be the worst that we will see in sections but not for any prolonged period. So, we will try and minimize the discomfort to commutters as much as possible and as much as it is avoidable”.
Asked how that will be achieved, the Minister said it will be through management, planning, preparation and communication, pointing out that:
“those are the tools of management. To prepare and work with the contractor and see what he wants to do. They will communicate and notify the public that there will be disruptions or diversions and we will monitor and implement very diligently as we have done before”.
