Press Releases

Rehabilitation Of Distressed Bridges In Lagos To Begin Soon

Jun 20, 2008 - The Federal Government will soon commence rehabilitation work on some bridges found to have some serious structural defect in Lagos State , Minister of Transportation Mrs. Diezanne Allison-Madueke, disclosed in Lagos at the weekend.

The bridges, which include the Third Mainland Bridge, are among the six bridges at different locations in the Metropolis which are found to be in critical condition

The Minister who gave the hint while on a courtesy visit to the Governor of the State, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), at the Lagos House Marina, said the Federal Government was very concerned about the infrastructure in the State and would ensure that they were kept in good condition.

“It is a responsibility we take very seriously to ensure that all our infrastructure are not left desolate”, the Minister said adding that it was a waste of national resources to allow such assets to go desolate or deformed.

According to the Minister, budget constraint has made the Ministry to prioritize its projects in order to ensure that available fund was judiciously deployed to the critical areas.

The Minister, who recalled that the State Governor has made a forceful representation to the Federal Government on the issue, assured that something concrete was being done to assuage the situation.

On the request to release the watch towers in Iganmu and the workshops at Costain and Ijora for use by the State Bus Transport Scheme, the Minister promised to look into the request pointing out that it was not in the interest of either the State or Federal Government to leave the structures desolate.

Earlier, the State Commissioner for Water Front Infrastructure, Prince Adesegun Oniru had disclosed that out of 39 bridges inspected sometime ago by a team of engineers raised by the State Government, six were found to be in critical condition.

According to the Commissioner, three of the bridges were located at Ijora while the others could only be accessed through water.

Prince Oniru, who said there were three main types of inspections that could possibly be carried out on a bridge, listed them to include, General inspection which is carried out every two years, Principle inspection which involves the inspection of all the component parts of the bridge and Special inspection which involves the inspection of a bridge in critical condition.

Commissioner called for collaboration between the Federal and Lagos State Governments to carry out a joint inspection of the bridges in order to find a lasting solution to the problem and save the nation from avoidable tragedy.

On the involvement of the State Government in the maintenance of Federal roads in the State, Special Adviser to the Governor on Works, Engineer Ganiyu Johnson disclosed that between 1999 and 2003, the Lagos State Government spent over N6 billion for the rehabilitation of Federal roads in the State adding that although the Federal Government has made some refunds of the amount, a bulk of the money still remained unpaid.

In his brief remark, Governor Fashola called for a supplementary appropriation by the Federal Government to enable it attend to some of the infrastructure that needed urgent attention in order to avoid any disaster.

The Governor who blamed gross misuse of facilities by the people for the dilapidated condition of some of the infrastructure over time, declared, ”it diminishes all of us when we suffer a disaster that is totally avoidable. It is also better for us to repair the damage instead of waiting for the structure to collapse first and then rebuild, it saves cost”.