By Desire Emmanuel
The Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway will be tolled as soon as completed and inaugurated, the Minister of Works, Senator Dave Umahi, said on Saturday, January 10, during an inspection of the project in Lagos State.
Umahi said: ”I must emphasise that this road is going to be tolled by the contractor, it is part of the package.
“l will be inviting the contractor to give us the programme, I don’t want to open this permanently for traffic and then we will begin to talk about tolling.
”The contractor has to give us the programme and begin to build infrastructure before the end of April; so, we have to toll this route as soon as we complete it and as soon as it is commissioned.”
On the impact of challenges (following realignment of the highway) on the project budget, the minister said that there would be no room to increase the budget further.
”We have concluded the re-measurements and we are a country with a lot of other issues and we have gone to the Bureau of Public Procurement; so, there is no opening to increase the project further.
“We have a total of N170 billion increments on the project as a result of this and diversion of the projects to save those high-rise buildings at the beginning of the project, the shore protection we encountered and then a lot of refuse dumps that were evacuated – some up to 15 metres deep and stretching over many kilometres..
“Hitech, the contractor handling the project, has to be at this risk and that is part of its contribution in building our nation,” he said.
The minister also said the highway is already serving its purpose as the Federal Government intensifies efforts to complete its Section One.
“I am very eager to see how we can fully complete this Section One by April this year, so that we can have it fully commissioned – a stretch of Section One and a significant part of Section Two,” he said.
