After one week suspension, the
planned repairs of Lagos Third Mainland Bridge phase II and additional works
for the replacement of its eight expansion joints will commence 12
midnight today and end November 6, 2012.Its contractor,
Messrs Borini Prono and Company Nigeria Limited is expected to mobilise to site
today while partial closure of the bridge to the public and motorists begins in
the early hours of Sunday, July 9, 2012.
It would be recalled that the
sum of N1.055bn was approved by the Federal Executive Council for the repairs
and maintenance of the bridge in November last year.
In a communiqué issued at the
end of the stakeholders meeting attended by the Minister of State
for Works, Ambassador Basir Yuguda, heralding the of-ficial flag-off of the
project on Friday, stakeholders ad-dressed the security issues that might arise
by bring-ing in all relevant security agencies.They also agreed
that traffic would be diverted from where works would be on-going, to other
section of the bridge and vice versa during the period of the repairs. The
communiqué was signed by the minister, Amassador Yuguda.
Other dignitaries at the
stakeholders meeting in-clude the Lagos State Com-missioner for Works and
Infrastructure, Dr. Obafemi Hamsat; his counterpart in the Ministry of
Transport, Mr. Bamidele Opeifa; Per-manent Secretary, Federal Ministry of
Work; relevant directors; the Nigerian Army; Nigerian Police; representatives
of the Nige-rian Society of Engineers; Federal Road Safety Corps; Nigerian
Security and Civil Defence Corp; Lagos State Transport Management
Authority, National Union of Road Transport Workers and National
Union of Road Transport Owners among others.
However, stakeholders agreed
that the alternative routes to Lagos Island, Victoria Island are:
Ikorodu Road-Yaba-Oyingbo-Iddo-Lagos Island; Ikorodu Road-Western Avenue-Lagos
Island; Agege Motor Road-Oshodi-Apapa-Lago-sIsland/Victoria Island;
Apapa-Oshodi Expressway-Mile 2-Orile-Lagos Island/Victoria Island.
Already, notices have been
placed in conspicuous locations in Lagos metropolis to notify members of the
public about the commencing date for the repairs of the bridge.
Members of the public have
already been alerted about the road diversion that will take place which will
inhibit smooth movement of human and vehicular traffic during the period.
Third Mainland Bridge measures
about 11.8km in length. It is the longest of three bridges connecting
Lagos Island to the mainland.The other two being the Eko and Carter bridges. It
is the longest bridge in Nigeria