Fashola: We Must Build 4th Mainland Bridge

•Gov Babatunde Fashola

•Gov Babatunde Fashola

Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State says his administration is working ceaselessly to begin work on the proposed 4th Mainland Bridge that will link Ikorodu to Lekki.

He said this while commissioning the N29 billion Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge on Wednesday in Lekki, Lagos, southwest Nigeria.

The governor said the 3rd Mainland bridge had been very useful to the state and that there was the need for a 4th Mainland bridge, saying his administration was more than ready to start work on the proposed bridge.

“In deed, it is the existence of the Eko and Carter Bridges and ferry services that made it possible to close down sections of the 3rd Mainland Bridge for repairs without grinding our daily commuting to a halt.

“Of course, the compelling need for a 4th Mainland Bridge and possibly a 5th and 6th bridge and expanded ferry services are all now no longer debatable.

“We are still working ceaselessly to start the commencement of the 4th Mainland Bridge and we have made lots of progress to soon commence an alternative mode of crossing the Lagoon from Lekki to Ikorodu with the completion of the Ipakodo and Badore ferry terminals, as we race to conclude the Osborne Terminal that will complete what I call the Lagos Lagoon ferry triangle,” he stated.

Fashola said all these efforts would bring lots of relief during the period of the building of the 4th Mainland Bridge as it would provide choice after its completion, stressing that “all these fit very squarely within our inter-modal transport plan of connectivity of rail, ferries and vehicles.”

While commissioning the bridge, which is the first suspension bridge in Africa, Fashola announced that the bridge would attract tolls and reeled out the cost per vehicles, saying that owners of saloon cars would pay N250; owners of mini-vans, SUVs and light pick-up trucks, N300; non-commercial buses with maximum seating capacity of 26 persons, N400 and motorcycles, with 200cc capacity and above, N100.

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“In addition, there is restriction on certain types of vehicles. For the avoidance of doubt, the following types of vehicles are prohibited from using this bridge, namely: commercial motorcycles, tricycles, commercial buses, including danfos and high capacity buses and heavy duty trucks, articulated trucks, lorries and such other categories,” he explained.

The governor said in order to ensure that the full savings in journey time was experienced by commuters, the government is racing to conclude the reconstruction of Glover Road later in the year to provide another choice of access to commuters who chose to use the bridge, adding that the bridge would fully be opened for use from 1 June, 2013.

“In the future, we intend to complete the road from the 3rd roundabout through Admiralty Way to provide a choice and access to commuters from Ajah who are heading to the Mainland.”

The governor dispelled the thinking that the state was being hampered by a court action in opening the bridge.

Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Dr. Kadri Hamzat said the bridge, which was conceived in 2008 represents a palpable solution to the bottleneck that characterises the Ikoyi to Lekki/Victoria Island axis of the state, stressing that the volume of traffic on the axis was higher than the capacity of available roads

The bridge was planned and designed by Julius Berger engineers in Germany and Nigeria, with additional technical support from Engineering and Service Group Bilfinger.

—Kazeem Ugbodaga

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