The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved N72.9 billion for the reconstruction of the road from Apapa to the toll gate on Lagos-Ibadan expressway in Lagos state.
Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, made this known to State house Correspondents in Abuja after the weekly cabinet meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Fashola said the decision was taken to provide a long term solution to the road, which had suffered a lot of grid lock in recent times.
“The Ministry of Power, Works and Housing secured approval for the reconstruction of the Creek Road Tincan Island-Beach Land right through to Oworoshoki to the toll gate end of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway for the full reconstruction of that road which was built around 1975 as part of our first port expansion undertaken then in the 70s.
“That road was intended to evacuate cargo out of Lagos without running through the spine of the city.
“The road is now in some state of disrepair and Council has approved its reconstruction at the cost of N72.9 billion.”
According to the minister, the work will be done using a Public-Private Partnership PPP model.
He named Dangote Group as the constructing firm for the road project, saying that the N72.9 billion for the execution of the project would be recovered through the funding credit tax policy of government.
The Minister further said when fully constructed, the road will have 10 lanes, with five on both sides, with a total of 270.8 linear kilometres, including drainage, rehabilitation of some of the bridges and interchanges.
“First, it will be done through PPP model. The constructing company will be the Dangote group. It will be financing that construction to the tune of N72.9 billion as certified by PPP.
Another instructive thing to note is that this is the first full reconstruction of that road since it was constructed at about 1975.
“All previous efforts had been to repair damaged sections. So, it is going all the way to reconstruct the road.
“The third thing to note is that the entire construction is that it involves procurement of 27.8 kilometres made up of 10 lanes – five lanes on both sides – three on the main carriage way, two on service lanes.
“So, essentially, you are constructing about 79.8 linear kilometres and that also include drainage and use of extensive cement work and rehabilitation of bridges.
“We expect contractors to move to site. This is our own long term solution to the problem contributed by the road congestion there.
“This will provide enduring solution to what is currently being experienced by commuters,’’ he added.
Abubakar Malami, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, said the Council ratified a prisoners-swap arrangement to facilitate the repatriation of Nigerian prisoners in China to serve out their jail terms back home.
Malami stated that the Nigerian prisoners to be affected for now are those imprisoned in Macau, in the south coast of China.
According to him, for the deal to be effective, it will also require ratification by the Chinese authorities.
The minister disclosed that plans were on to sign similar deals with other countries.
He also revealed that the Council approved a Federal Government Action Plan on Anti-money Laundering and Combating Financing of Terrorism.
“This was worked out after Nigeria’s recent suspension from Egmont Group,’’ he added.
The minister expressed the hope the approval would showcase new and more effective measures to combat these vices, as agreed by stakeholders in money laundering and anti-terrorism agencies.
