The Oyo State government has said it is not responsible for non-completion of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, as claimed by Works and Housing Minister Babatunde Fashola (SAN).
The state’s Information, Culture and Tourism Commissioner Wasiu Olatubosun said this in a statement yesterday in Ibadan, the state capital.
Fashola had, last Thursday, said the expressway was having a delay because of the drainage channel the Oyo State government was building on its Ibadan axis.
The minister had spoken at the inaugural edition of President Muhammadu Buhari’s Administration Scorecard 2015-2023 Series, organised by the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture.
Fashola said the 127.6 kilometres expressway had recorded a lot of progress, urging motorists and commuters to endure the delays they were facing at the Ibadan and Lagos axis.
“The Oyo State government is building a drainage channel across the road; so, we are having difficulties because the contractor has slowed down and we have to slow down too.
“We do not want to finish the road and come back to destroy it for the drainage channel construction,” he said.
But reacting to the minister’s statement, Olatunbosun said: “First, we need to clarify that two major projects – the dualisation of the 8.2-kilometre Agodi Gate-Old Ife-Adegbayi Junction Road and a few projects under the World Bank-assisted Ibadan Urban Flood Management Project (IUFMP) interface with the 127.6-kilometre Lagos-Ibadan Expressway project at CH 115-117, CH 117 and CH 125.
“In real terms, this stretch is less than three kilometres.
“Secondly, we would have expected that the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing would have reached out to us to find out how long we would need to complete the aforementioned projects, being that Oyo State has been in communication with the ministry.
“In fact, just about a year ago, we had requested permission from the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing (through the Director of Federal Highways) to dualise the underpass at CH 115-117.”
“We were advised to make sure that the diversion routes are completed before embarking on the diversion. We complied 100 per cent.
“Also, it is on record that the majority of the 22-kilometre stretch of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway between the old Tollgate Ibadan-Ojoo is still in progress.
“Earthwork between Iwo Road Interchange and Ojoo has only just commenced, while work between the Old Ibadan Tollgate and Onipepeye is still in progress and characterised by road diversions.
“With all these works yet to be done, why is the Federal Minister blaming the Oyo State government for delaying the project?” Olatunbosun queried.
The commissioner said if the minister had reached out to the state government, he would have told him that though the contract for work on the dualisation of Agodi Gate-Old-Ife Road-Adegbayi Junction, including an underpass interface with the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway at Onipepeye, had to be terminated at 60 per cent in September.
According to him, this was due to slow pace of work by the contractor, whose job was awarded under the previous administration.
He said: “Oyo State Government is in the process of re-awarding the remaining 40 per cent with a February 2023 delivery date.
“We have also provided 500 metre diversions of the main expressway’s lanes from the impacted site to allow traffic flow on both sides.
“Similarly, the IUFMP projects also have four-month completion schedules.”