…Rules out tolling
The Federal Government yesterday inaugurated the ₦40 billion Close-Circuit Television Camera (CCTV) Centre of the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos.
The CCTV centre was built by the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation, (CCECC).
Inaugurating the centre, the Minister of Works, Senator Dave Umahi, said that the current administration met a ‘very terrible Third Mainland Bridge.’
While answering journalists’ questions after the inauguration, the Minister said the Federal Government has no plan to toll the rehabilitated bridge. “We will not engage in construction on this bridge because it will entail static load on the bridge. It is also within the town, so it will introduce many bottlenecks; that is why we are not tolling this bridge”, he stated.
Umahi said security on the bridge would be handled by the police, noting that the 11-kilometre bridge would have a five-minute response time. He thanked the CCECC for a job well done, saying the ministry would be handing over a boat and two Hilux vans, which were part of the contract, to the police for monitoring of the bridge.
Dare said that the project’s contract was ₦40.17 billion. According to him, the Federal Government had paid ₦36 billion to the contractor handling the project.
He further stated that, “This is the first level commissioning. We are still going to come back here to do even for the extension of the bridge which is about to be completed. We pray that very sooner than later, we will come back to do a full-blown commissioning”.
