The Lagos State Government, on Tuesday, recommenced works on the yet-to-be-completed section of the ten-lane Lagos-Badagry Expressway in Lagos.
The road construction, which has been on in the last 11 years, had been crippled with dilapidation and abandonment, especially at the section connecting the Trade Fair, Iyana Oba and Okokomaiko, leading to breakdown of traffic along the expressway.
Performing the flag-off at the site office of the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) – the contractors handling the project, the Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, said the return to the road not only marked the fulfillment of a promise made during a recent visit on June 2, 2019 to the people of the state by the Sanwo-Olu-led administration but is also designed to bring relief to commuters who daily experience hardship on the road.
According to the deputy governor, the project covers specifically the Agboju to Trade Fair segment as well as the rehabilitation of the Eric Moore – Mile 2 stretch.
Hamzat, who also apprehended five errant drivers who drove against traffic, urged citizens to remain obedient to the laws that were made to ensure good life.
“We must obey the law, citizens co-operation is critical to what successes we will be able to record during this tenure. We must also monitor the project and report progress and observations to us,” Kadri said.
Hamzat further commended the co-operation of the Federal Government as both the State and Federal Agencies will be present along the road up to Seme border.
He explained that Lagos State was handling Eric Moore to Agboju while FERMA will do a four-lane maintenance to Agbara while the Federal Government had awarded Agbara to Seme as a six-lane highway.
He added that the state government will deploy task force to clean up the area and ensure free flow of traffic.
Recalled that the notion to expand the Lagos-Badagry Expressway, a major gateway connecting Nigeria and other neighbouring West African countries, was conceptualized in 2009 by the Babatunde Raji Fashola-led administration to ease traffic in the region and upgrade the infrastructure from four lane into 10 lane dual carriage.
The Lagos-Badagry project, which is approximated to 60km long from Eric Moore to Badagry, consist of two major intermodal transport scheme namely Lagos-Badagry Expressway project and Lagos Light Rail Mass Transit project.
