After guzzling over N7bn, Third Mainland Bridge still in the works
Man-hours wasted daily; residents call for action Fears over N5.4bn from govt releases Constant deterioration due to haphazard maintenance, dredging – Experts
The Lagos Third Mainland Bridge, one of the most important infrastructure facilities in Nigeria’s commercial capital, has gulped billions of naira in an attempt to maintain its structural integrity and make it safe for the millions of road users in the state.
The bridge, which spans 11.8 km, is the third of the three bridges that connect the Mainland to the Island, with the first and second being Carter Bridge and Eko Bridge respectively.
Despite the existence of Eko and Carter bridges, residents say the Third Mainland Bridge, which was the longest bridge in Africa, until 1996 when the 6 October Bridge in Egypt was opened, remains the easiest bridge to connect the Island, especially for motorists coming from Ikeja and Ikorodu axes of Lagos State.
This is why residents continue to lament the inconveniences that come with shutting down the bridge for any repair or maintenance work, including the ongoing repair works by the federal government.
Until now, the Third Mainland
Bridge has not undergone any major repair work, following which residents say it continued to deteriorate to the point of almost becoming a death trap.
Experts say the haphazard maintenance of the road, despite the release of billions of naira spent, as well as poor quality of materials, corrosion, overloading and vandalism, have continued to make it a source of concern.
Serving an estimated 6,000 to 9,000 vehicles on weekdays and 3,000 to 5,000 vehicles on weekends, the federal government had in January announced an advisory to commuters to use alternate routes as it commenced repair works on the Iyana Oworonshoki-Adeniji Adele bound of the Third Mainland Bridge.
Currently, the federal government has completed the Lagos Island bound section of the bridge while work on the outbound section is ongoing.
However, this report by Daily Trust on Sunday shows that the bridge, which cost about N1 billion to construct, has in the last four years gulped more than six times the amount on repair works.
The federal government had,
between 2019 and 2022, allocated N7.bn for its rehabilitation, and claimed it released N6.4bn out of the approved sum. Findings from this report, however, reveal a gap of N5.4bn, which appears unaccounted for.
History of repairs, closures and diversions
From 2018 to date, this newspaper gathered that the Third Mainland Bridge has witnessed countless repairs, closures and diversions. This followed several complaints by motorists and road users about shaking expansion joints on the bridge.
In August 2018, the bridge was closed temporarily for what the federal government described as “investigative maintenance works” ahead of a comprehensive repair.
However, it was not until 2020 that the government began the repairs after videos depicting shaky expansion joints of the bridge went viral. The federal government had allayed the fears of motorists, saying while the joints were due for change, they were still safe for use and did not pose any structural danger.
It, therefore, shut down the bridge partially, diverted traffic in two phases and commenced a six-month comprehensive repair in July 2020.
Daily Trust on Sunday reports that phase one repairs of the bridge, which involved the repair of the Oworonshoki bound lane, lasted for three months.
Phase two, which was to cover repairs of the Lagos Island bound lane of the bridge, was delayed by the #EndSARS protest.
However, after seven months of the “comprehensive repair,” the bridge was reopened on February 27, 2021.
But in August 2022, the Third Mainland Bridge was again partially shut down for 24 hours for rehabilitation works on some sections said to be riddled with potholes on both sides.
Despite these repairs, the deterioration of the bridge became visible in 2023 with potholes in several sections, especially the Adeniji-bound traffic, as motorists approached the bridge from Oworonshoki.
This deterioration provided the foundation for the current repair works, with motorists now pleading with the federal government to ensure the ongoing work stands the test of time.
Speaking with our correspondent, Olusegun Oyebanjo, who plies the bridge to his place of work on the Island, decried the pain commuters faced since work began on the bridge, saying traffic had become a nightmare. “It makes commuting from point A to B harder and stressful as more productive time is spent in traffic,” he said.
Williams Kayode Gabriel, who works in Marina and lives in Ketu, also said, “I know the gridlock is for the meantime due to the construction of the bridge. It is very stressful but I have no choice. All I have to do is wake up very early and try to leave work as early as possible.”
FG allocates N7.1bn maintenance in 4 years
for
Nigeria’s former military head of state, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, in 2017, said the Third Mainland Bridge was constructed with less than N1bn. While official government records show that the bridge was first commissioned by President Shehu Shagari in 1980, the second phase - Ebute-Metta to Oworonshoki - was commissioned by Babangida in 1990.
A comparative analysis of Nigeria’s yearly budgets between 2019 and 2023 by this newspaper indicates that maintenance and rehabilitation of the Third Mainland Bridge remains a line item under the headings: “Emergency Rehabilitation/Maintenance of Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos,” and “Rehabilitation of Lagos Ring Road Bridge Abutment and Approach Ramp to the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos State.”
Further investigations revealed that between 2019 and 2022, a cumulative sum of N7.1bn was allocated for maintenance and repair of the bridge.
The 2019 budget shows that a provision of N200million was made for the “Rehabilitation of Lagos Ring Road Bridge Abutment and Approach Ramp to the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos State C/No 6200.” But within the same budget year, another sum of N1bn was allocated for “Emergency Rehabilitation/Maintenance of the bridge “Part I, (Restoration of Defective Substructure piles (Underwater) C/No 6238.”
In 2020, the federal government budgeted N250million for C/No 6200 and N1bn for C/No 6238. For the 2021 budget, the same line items appeared with N175m and N4bn respectively allocated in that fiscal year. However, in the 2022 budget, the federal government allocated N134m and N409m respectively for the same line-items listed as ongoing, amounting to a total of N7.1bn allocated for the project in four years.