How IPOB, Others Caused Delay In Completion Of 2nd Niger Bridge –Fashola | DETAILS

How IPOB, Others Caused Delay In Completion Of 2nd Niger Bridge –Fashola | DETAILS

The Minister for Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola has listed various factors that has delayed the completion of the 2^nd Niger Bridge.

Recall that the 2^nd Niger Bridge, now Muhammadu Buhar bridge, was scheduled to be completed by February, 2022.

Speaking to State House correspondents during a special ministerial briefing organized by the Presidential Communications Team, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Thursday, Fashola blamed the non-completion of the Bridge on; the COVID-19 lockdown, #EndSARS protests, and the sit-at-home order by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) which delayed works on the Anambra side of the bridge.

The minister noted that the 2^nd Niger Bridge, the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway projects are at 91% completion stage and will be wrapped up before 2022 ends.

“The Lagos-Ibadan Expressway will be delivered this year, subject to how we navigate the pricing issues. Second Niger Bridge also this year, while the main carriageway of Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Expressway is scheduled for completion by the second quarter of 2023 before the President leaves office at the end of his tenure.

“On the Second Niger Bridge, one of the challenges we are facing on the Anambra side of the project is the stay-at-home order on Mondays and every day we don’t work, there is time lost.

“On the second Niger Bridge, we are going to shut down the power supply from one of the power plants for maintenance. On Abuja-Kano road, we have to relocate transmission lines; we have to move people who have set up markets along the roads and so on.

“So, these are some of the challenges we are facing and then there are compensation issues and we are working with Governors, who control land in their states to help us overcome these local issues,” the minister said.