The federal government has announced it rerouted the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway path in response to complaints by some telecommunication companies to avoid any possible damage to their subsea cables. The government also said it reduced the highway’s size from 10 lanes to 6 to cut down costs.
The announcement was made by the Minister of Works, David Umahi, at a meeting with contractors in Abuja. He also confirmed that the government has disbursed a total sum of ₦10bn as compensation to property owners affected by the demolition necessary for the construction of the 700km Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway while promising that the first 47 kilometers of the project would be open to the public by May of next year.
“For the three legacy projects by the administration, the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway, we have cut down the project size to six lanes, especially from sections two, three, and four, it shows you that we mean business. Some people have been writing that we have stopped the project. No project is stopped. As we are talking now, over four kilometres of concrete road has been completed on six lanes.
“We had to establish a new path due to complaints made by MTN on its subsea cable and Okuaja community, we had to reroute not to the new alignment, not to the gazetted alignment but far away from the two, and we came back to a new alignment at kilometre 25. So, the work is going and it’s moving smoothly. We have paid the total compensation of close to ₦10bn. We are not owing, and the contractor is highly commended for a very beautiful job, commitment and being very reasonable.
These projects are investments, and they have inherent returns on investments, By May 29, 2025, we will have completed section one of the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway. Apart from the land, we are going to acquire for tourism, factories and industries when we toll the road within 10 years, we would recover the cost of the money, so it is an investment.”
He added, “Sections three and four have been finalized, but we are going to do stakeholder engagement in either Cross River or Akwa Ibom because that is where those sections will get started so that we can ensure procurement. But the design is almost completed.”
