Marine Beach Bridge: FG explains delay in repair work

…as truck drivers defy PTT, take over Ijora-apapa Bridge

The Federal Government has given reasons for the delay in completion of on-going repair work on the Apapa-bound section of the Marine Beach Bridge in Lagos. It, however, said that the repair work was progressing according to schedule.

The government pleaded with motorists to be patient with Buildwell Construction Company, the contractor handling the repair of the bridge, saying that the repair work has 18 months’ timeline that is expected to end in April next year.

“What looks like delay is not delay in the real sense of it, considering the nature of work the contractor is doing there. It is purely technical and takes a lot of planning and careful execution. What we are fixing there are broken joints involving replacing old, worn out bearings and connecting joints,” Kayode Popoola, Federal Controller of Works, in Lagos told Businessday on Wednesday.

The controller explained further that why only two or three workers are seen on top of the bridge was because much of the repair work was being done under the bridge. “If you see them sitting down and not doing anything, it may be that they are waiting for spare parts, or for crane to help them to adjust beams from under the bridge; they are not idle as people think they are,” Popoola said.

Kayode Opeifa, the executive vice chairman of the Presidential Task Team (PTT), had blamed the delay in completing the repair work, which has worsened traffic situation in Apapa, on the multiple maintenance work being undertaken by the Federal Government.

Marine Beach Bridge is one of the three bridges in Lagos that the Federal Government is repairing. The other two are the Alaka section of Eko Bridge and the Third Mainland Bridge which has six whole months completion timeline.