7th Axial Road sand filling must be completed by April ~ Umahi

Sen. Dave Umahi

The Federal Government has directed the contractor handling construction of the Seventh Axial Road – from Dangote Refinery in Lagos State to Sagamu in Ogun, to complete filling with sand before the end of April.

The Minister of Works, Sen. Dave Umahi, gave the directive on Saturday in Lagos while inspecting the project.

“I want to see a situation in which we have completed all the filling with sand and then, we will start concrete structure, but not the pavement,” Umahi said.

The road is one of the proposed routes for evacuating cargoes from the Lekki Deep Sea Port.

The proposed Lagos State International Airport is on that corridor.

The project is being handled by China Harbour Engineering Company.

Umahi noted that the Federal Government had made 30 per cent counterpart funding for Lots One and Two of the project.

“The contractor is supposed to mobilise 70 per cent foreign loans in dollars” he said.

According to him, the 25km dual carriageway will be tolled when completed.

“Yes, the project is taking off but the work that is ongoing is no work as far as I am concerned. It is just clearing,” Umahi said.

According to him, a major aspect of the work is the sand filling.

He directed that the right procedure must be followed.

Umahi said that concrete pavement would be expected to start from November.

“This strict timetable must be adhered to. I am also directing the resident engineer: within the next two weeks, I want to see 90 per cent of equipment on site – the equipment in your bid document.

“We need to see where you are getting your sand dredging. Sand dredging needs to start now,” he said.

(NAN)