…Assures completion of ‘Trade Fair-LASU Gate’ portion by August on Badagry expressway***

The Lagos State Government has assured residents and motorists that the Agege Pen Cinema Flyover bridge will be completed by the beginning of July.

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu gave the assurance while inspecting the work done so far on the bridge on Friday in Agege.

Sanwo-Olu said the bridge had reached 70 per cent completion, and the most difficult part of the construction had been done.

”We are pushing the contractor, we have also been able to drive a lot of commitment from them. So, let us use the dry season to see how we complete this bridge very quickly.

”So, they have given us a commitment — at the end of the second quarter or the beginning of the third quarter — meaning that we should complete this bridge toward the end of June, early July, and all of you will be invited to see the level of development that we have brought to this entire neighbourhood,” he said.

According to him, the Agege Pen Cinema flyover, which connects Oba Ogunji Road where it takes off with Agunbiade on the other side, also has a railway underpass and three abatements, splitting into adjoining streets all around Agege Pen Cinema.

He said that at completion, not only would there be improvement in traffic flow, but real estate value would come back to the entire neighbourhood.

”You could see better quality of life because it is all geared to ensure we continue to build smart environment and smart cities.

”This is one of the major flyovers happening right in the midst of Agege, so what it speaks to is the fact that what is good for the people on the Island is also good for my people right here.

”You can see rail infrastructure, road infrastructure, bridge infrastructure, all three coming to solve traffic, transportation and movement of human beings from one point to the other, and you can see economies, businesses coming up to flourish here,” the governor said.

He appealed to citizens and residents around the area to bear with the government a little bit more and cooperate with the contractor, who had engaged many of them on site.

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In the meantime, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Friday gave marching orders for the completion of the Trade Fair – LASU Gate portion of the Lagos-Badagry expressway within eight months.

Sanwo-Olu gave the directive to the contractor, China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC), during an inspection of the ‘Agboju to Trade Fair’ section of the expressway.

Sanwo-Olu said that the Trade Fair to LASU Gate portion, a 4.7 kilometres distance, was the next phase of construction to be carried out on the road.

He said that the work would pass through Volkswagen, the military barracks, then from LASU-Iba junction to LASU Gate.

The governor said that the contractor promised to finish the portion in nine months, “but we are pushing for delivery within seven to eight months.

“This is because we are in the dry season, we want them to push all of the heavy works around drainage, and keep the right of way safe, such that by the middle of the year, they should be able to get to front of LASU Gate,’’ Sanwo-Olu said.

He commended the contractor for delivering the ‘Agboju to Trade Fair’ phase within the timeframe.

“It was the first week in July, we all came here on this road and we gave a commitment that by December, this part of Lagos-Badagry Expressway would have been completed and opened to traffic, we have kept to our word, this is exactly six months.

“If you recall in July, nobody could stand on where we are standing right now, we could not access this part of the route at all.

“But we have been able to push it from Maza-Maza towards Agboju to Alakija; now we have passed Trade Fair, so we have kept faith with our promise and our contractors have also measured up to work,” he said.

He, however, decried the indiscriminate dumping of refuse on the road by residents and urged the public to join the government in maintaining the public infrastructure.

He also warned articulated vehicles against pouring used engine oil on the road.

“They make it unusable and they park their vehicles permanently on the road.

“A lot of enforcement will continue to come; we will continue to go back there and tow vehicles.

“It is a 10 lane highway, five lanes on either side and it’s supposed to be free-flowing of traffic.

“We are going to come very strongly, we are sending the message right now, this is a major international highway; you cannot turn it into a refuse dump.

“We will not agree to that; we will come back and clear everybody off the right of way.’’

Sanwo-Olu said that sooner in the year, the BRT corridor would be carved out on the Lagos-Badagry Expressway to ease transportation.