Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway: No Order to Discontinue Project for East-West Road, FG Clarifies
The Federal Government has clarified that President Bola Tinubu did not direct the discontinuation of the 750-kilometre dualised Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway to accommodate the reconstruction of the East-West Road from Edo State to Cross River State.
The clarification was contained in a statement issued on Tuesday by the Director of Highway Bridges and Design at the Federal Ministry of Works, Engr. Musa Saidu, following backlash from some Nigerians over the “diversion” of the project.
Saidu explained that the 400-kilometre East-West Road reconstruction was an additional project to be executed alongside the Coastal Highway.
He noted that the East-West Road required reconstruction because parts of it were below flood level due to climate change, while its pavement had been badly damaged.
He stressed that the additional project would not affect the completion of the entire 750-kilometre Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway as originally proposed.
Saidu disclosed that work was ongoing on five sections of the Coastal Highway within the Niger Delta region. These include Sections 3A and 3B, covering 75 kilometres of dualised road in Cross River and Akwa Ibom States; Sections 4A and 4B, covering 65 kilometres in Ogun and Ondo States; and Section 5, covering 62 kilometres in Akwa Ibom State.
He added that surveying and design work on the remaining sections of the Coastal Highway was ongoing from the end of the Ondo axis through Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, and Rivers States, before joining Section 5 in Akwa Ibom State.
The director also stated that procurement and construction of the remaining sections would commence from the end of the Ondo axis as soon as the survey and design exercises were completed.
To illustrate the government’s approach to additional infrastructure projects, Saidu cited the 410-kilometre Wukari/Langtang route, which President Tinubu approved as an addition to the Fourth Legacy Project covering Akwanga, Jos, Bauchi, Gombe, Biu, and Maiduguri.
He said that the addition increased the project from 700 kilometres of dualised road to 1,100 kilometres, while the original alignment and ongoing works remained unaffected.
Saidu maintained that the additional East-West Road reconstruction would similarly neither alter the original alignment of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway nor affect the execution of the initial project plan.
He urged the public to disregard misinformation concerning the government’s commitment to delivering the projects as planned.
