By Grace Alegba and Abdulrahman Kadiri
Lagos – Some road users in Lagos on Tuesday commended the Federal Government for the ongoing rehabilitation of the Marine Beach Bridge in Apapa.
The road users told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the bridge was a major access route for businesses dispersing traffic in and out of Apapa.
A chandler, Mrs Herrieta Mmerole, told NAN that the rehabilitation of the bridge was timely to prevent lockdown of Apapa.
“I don’t even want to imagine the kind of confusion that will follow the collapse of this Marine Beach Bridge, Apapa will be a no go area because of several business here especially the ports.
“We thank the Buhari led Federal Government for awarding this contract to save this bridge,’’ she said.
A commercial bus driver, Mr Mojid Saheed, commended the repair and the opening of the Apapa/Ijora carriageway to light traffic.
“Government is doing well and this portion they have opened is reducing traffic congestion,’’ he said.
Also, Mrs Seun Hosseni, a business woman, praised efforts to save the bridge to ease gridlock and promote growth of businesses in Lagos.
NAN correspondents who visited the project on Tuesday, report that workers were seen arranging some equipment under the Apapa bound carriageway of the Bridge.
NAN observed that a barricade placed on the Ijora/Lagos bound carriageway allowed only small cars to pass through the portion where the first phase of repairs was recently done.
Mr Christian Chikeka, Site Engineer, Buildwell Plants and Equipment Industries Ltd, contractors handling the project told NAN that the firm began second phase of the repairs on March 26.
Chikeka explained that the first phase of work on the Ijora/Apapa bound carriageway was completed before the scheduled date and the portion was opened to light traffic on March 26.
He said that bigger vehicles would be allowed to use the portion after another phase of construction which would involve changing the bearings to make the carriageway stronger.
The site engineer said that the work schedule for the second phase was for the firm to work on a span portion of the Apapa bound carriageway of the bridge from March 26 to April 20.
“We are working on the second via duct of the bridge, which comprises of several spans.
“We are doing some preparations under the bridge for the major work. We have marked out the area where we will lay out cables and beams.
“We are doing our down preparations and we must finish the preparations beneath the bridge before we move to the top, we have started the rehabilitation.
“We are supposed to finish this via duct in 24 days and after that, we would have the bearings to work upon and the work on the bearing will take 40 days on each side,’’ Chikeka said.
The site engineer said that the firm was able to complete and open the first phase of work to traffic before the earlier scheduled date of March 29.
“We are working within the time frame and trying our possible best to deliver the project on schedule,’’ he said.
Mrs Bola Suleiman, the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing engineer supervising the project, said that the traffic management team were working in synergy to ensure free flow of traffic.
NAN reports that the Marine Beach Bridge was damaged by fire about 10 years ago.
Contract for repair of the bridge was awarded in 2012, but the contractor abandoned the project due to funding constraint.
The contractor moved back to site on March 5 to begin repair works.
Road Repair: Commuters Commend FG On Apapa Marine Beach Bridge
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