Lagos-Ibadan expressway reconstruction project in jeopardy

THE 60-day ultimatum given to Bi-Courtney Highway Services by the Federal Government to embark on immediate palliative and reconstruction works on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, is currently facing strong opposition which may derail the take-off of the project and the realisation of its objective.

The opposition is coming from the Ogun State Government which is mounting pressure on the construction company to move out of the proposed site for the project.

President Goodluck Jonathan had recently given a marching order to the concessionaire of the expressway, to get to work two years after it was awarded the reconstruction contract by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua.

Crisis reared its ugly head when last Monday Bi-Courtney alleged that the Ogun State Government was hindering reconstruction work on the expressway.

The state Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun was reported to have ordered immediate stoppage of the installation of an asphalt plant meant to provide bitumen for the construction.

Bi-Courtney had sometime last week announced that it was installing the $6.5million asphalt plant imported from Singapore which is needed for the takeoff of the project located on eight hectares yard of Reynolds Construction Company on Kilometre 5, along the expressway.

In a swift reaction, the company, in a statement issued by the Bi-Courtney Head of Corporate Affairs, Mr. Dipo Kehinde, claimed that Gov. Amosun, with a detachment of policemen and bulldozers visited RCC on Sunday and announced that he would not allow the concessionaire to go on with the installation because he wanted to use the site for a trailer park.

Kehinde explained: “Since the grant of the concession, the Ogun State government was taken as a major partner, given that 80 per cent of the highway falls within the state.

The state was to give us land as its own contribution to the project. The former RCC yard was identified, visited and allocated to us by the Ogun State Government. The process entailed a joint visit and assessment before allocation. All due processes were followed.

“To buttress this fact, we duly settled the land owners huge sum of money to demonstrate our commitment to the site.

The payment to the land owners was done after due consultation with the state government and confirmation of the landowners at a joint stakeholders meeting with officials of the Bureau of Land.

The state government actually brokered the meeting with the family land owners”.

He added that a search was also conducted at the Ogun State Survey Directorate, and the search report revealed that the property was unencumbered.

*Work at a halt on the road as Ogun and Bi-Courtney fight over control of site for asphalt plant

Kehinde wondered why the state government was only interested in the particular site despite the fact that there are other vacant sites equally suitable for location of trailer parks.

He disclosed that Bi-Courtney had spent over N1 billion on the maintenance of the road so far, adding that the road needs more than patching as it also requires to be excavated and a durable asphalt laid on it to restore it to its former glory.

Saying that the final approval for the design of the road was approved on the May 19, 2011, Kehinde also informed that one of the constraints confronting the company is how to claim the 60 metres right of way for the project as the owners of properties have been threatening to resist perform of the job.

“So we need the assistance of government to help us pull all those on the right of way away, especially the owners of gas stations.

We can assure you that when the road is finished it will be one of the best in Africa,” he said.

Kehinde further said it was not the intention of the company to engage in any form of litigation as it prefers that the contentious issue be resolved amicably in the interest of Nigerians.

“To fight over the project will be a big blow to the project, Nigerians and the expatriates brought in from Singapore whose visas will soon expire,” he explained.

But in his response, the Ogun Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Yusuph Olaniyonu stated that the expressway had become a major weak link in the national road network, as it constituted a major menace to its users.

He stressed that the bid to solve the problems and make life easier for all informed the State government’s decision to explore various means by which it can take the trailers and petrol tankers, which usually impede free flow of traffic, off the road by finding a temporary site to be used as a park for them.

“The government has found a disused site around the Sagamu interchange which had earlier been occupied by the RCC.

The site which is already situated within two kilometres global acquisition along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway will serve the purpose of eliminating the public nuisance constituted by trailers and petrol tankers which are usually parked along the expressway,” Olaniyonu stated.

According to him: “It should be noted that the said parcel of land was already under government acquisition and therefore its being designated as a trailer park is in the public interest.

The government, however, found that a private concern had submitted application for the use of the same site on April 20, 2011 and the application was approved.

“However, there is no record that the company had either furnished consideration as required or fulfilled other pre-conditions necessary for it to take full possession. By operation of law, title cannot pass if there is failure of consideration.

Therefore, any claim by any individual or company to the parcel of land is without basis. The fact that the state requires the land for its trailer park project is an over-riding public purpose which weighs higher than any other form of interest”.

However, in response to the claim that officials of his government destroyed an asphalt plant, the Governor was said to have directed his Commissioner for Works and Infrastructur, Olumiluwa Adegbite to take an inspection of the site last Tuesday.

Adegbite who spoke to newsmen at the disputed site in Sagamu said the company merely wanted to hide under the allegation to explain away its failure to reconstruct the road two years after it was given concession by the Federal Government.

“We are all aware of the menace of the trailers on the highway at Ibafo, Mowe and also Ogere. In the course of his campaign in the area, people asked the Governor what he would do about the menace.

He promised that if he assumed office these trailers would be provided a place and taken off the highway. We did not demolish anything here. We are all for this road; 80 percent of the road lies in Ogun State.

So we will like to partner with Bi-Courtney to fix the road; that is if Bi-Courtney do what is proper, that is approach the government for land. Of course we will allocate land to them but they need to do what is needful and we would definitely do that.

“As you are aware, asphalt plants emit fumes when they are in use and you cannot just fix one anywhere. So there is a need to do an environmental impact analysis and submit it to government before government can approve such.

Our plan for this neighbourhood includes a housing estate in this place. Even if we had no plans for this land and they came to us, we wouldn’t have approved for an asphalt plant to be on this land,” Adegbite stated.

Previous: Crawler excavators improvements
Next: Caterpillar announced that it plans to open a new manufacturing facility in Xuzhou