Workers of Julius Berger, one of the contractors handling the reconstruction of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway remained on site during the just ended public holidays, checks by Daily Trust have shown.
The Minister for Works, Power and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, had through his media aide, Hakeem Bello, instructed Julius Berger to work on public holiday as a way of speeding up the work.
Julius Berger is handling Section 1 of the expressway from Lagos to Sagamu interchange.
However, motorists have continued to lament the traffic gridlock along Mowe-Ibafo-Asese up to the popular Long Bridge as they spend more than four hours on a 20-minute drive.
Daily Trust learnt that there had been complaints over the pace of work on the Long Bridge where motorists usually spend hours before crossing the four-kilometer bridge.
Sources said the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) had made a formal complaint to the Ministry of Works in Abuja asking it to prevail on Julius Berger to speed up the project especially on the bridge.
Testifying to the resolve of the contractor to speed up the job, one of the site engineers told Daily Trust, “Our presence here is a clarification of the fact that we are working on public holidays. If you go further to the office, you will see many people there too.”
The Sector Commander of FRSC in Lagos, Mr. Hyginus Omeje, urged motorists to be patient.
