LAGOS – The completion rate of the current reconstruction work on the Lagos/Ibadan Expressway has reached 17 per cent, the Federal Controller of Works in Lagos, Mr Godwin Eke, has said.
Eke told newsmen in Lagos that unforeseen circumstances and impatient driving on the highway by motorists had slowed down the pace of work.
“Work is going on; level of completion is about 17 per cent; we have done more than 12 kilometres of binder course with our special binder material on the Lagos-bound road.
“We have also started work on Ibadan-bound road so that we bring them at par.
“Drainage work is going on, we are expanding the road; we also have a terrible traffic situation on Lagos/Ibadan (Expressway).
“We are coping but again, these tanker drivers and container people, it’s been hell, they don’t keep to the rules, they don’t keep to the agreement that these vehicles should keep to one side of the road.
“You see them everywhere blocking the road; so, most times this gridlock we always talk about is as a result of drivers’ indiscipline.
“We have two lanes of diversion so if they strictly maintain the lanes there won‘t be problems but they don‘t do that.
“We are slightly behind because of issues of traffic and some other contractual issues.
“The initial hiccup when the expatriate was kidnapped and one was killed, for some time we didn’t work; we were trying to set up our security system because the man that was killed was the quarry expert.“
The controller explained that the expatriate that got killed was to repair the quarry plant and the unfortunate incident led to the closure of the plant for about two weeks.
A German engineer with Julius Berger was killed by gunmen in November, while another got abducted but got rescued a few days later.