The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Apapa-Wharf Road

  • Apapa-Wharf road repairs nearing completion, say contractors

    The Apapa Wharf Road reconstruction project has achieved 75 per cent completion, officials of AG Dangote Construction Company Limited, the contractor handling the project, have said.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Project Director, Mr Bosun Kalejaiye and the Project Manager, Mr Tunde Jimoh, spoke yesterday in Lagos during an inspection of the road.

    Kalejiaye told reporters that the outbound section had been completed, while the second part, inbound Apapa, had recorded 25 per cent progress.

    The project director said the project was 75 per cent completed.

    He said the construction firm had deployed more workers and equipment to recover the time lost during relocation of underground and surface utilities in the Right of Way (RoW) of the project.

    Kalejaiye said: “We are moving with one gang from Section Four toward Section One and we have another gang from Section One moving toward Section Four.

    “Our focus is to finish the project with good quality works by July.

    “Our commitment is total. We have brought in additional equipment to speed up. That is why we are focused on finishing the concrete pavement by July.”

    The project director said the issue of high vehicular traffic on the axis was being properly managed by the traffic consultant of the project, MIS Advisory.

    Giving an overview of the project, Jimoh said work on the CMS/Ijora-bound carriageway was completed and progress was being recorded on the Apapa-bound carriageway.

    He said: “Presently, we are 75 per cent completed; the balance of 25 per cent would be completed this month.

    “The configuration of the road is about 80cm. Imagine a road with a thickness like this.

    “This is one of its kind here (Nigeria), considering the kind of high traffic we have here (Apapa).

    “We have a sub-grade stabilised with hard core. After the stabilisation with hard core, we have impermeable layer which is 10cm of sand cement.

    “Apart from that, we also have the sub-soil drainage, which drains out the water underneath the sand cement. Afterwards, we have the stone base which is about 200mm well compacted.

    “On top of this 200mm stone base, we are having our 250mm rigid pavement which is re-enforced with 10mm mesh.”

    Jimoh noted that beyond additional layers for durability, the road surface would be completed with an asphalt overlay of 50mm.

    Mr Patrick Adenusi of the MIS Advisory Services, regretted that smoke and dust pollution, reckless driving and assault on his team by overzealous law enforcement agents were among the challenges the team faced as it managed traffic around the construction area.

    Adenusi praised heads of law enforcement units who punished erring officers to stem the tide of assault on traffic consultants on site.

    “It has been hectic, tough, rough, risky and dangerous,” he said.

  • Apapa Wharf Road opens to traffic today

    SECTION One of the Apapa Wharf Road is completed and will be opened to traffic today, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) said yesterday.

    A senior engineer from AG Dangote Construction Company Ltd involved in the project said the section  was being cleaned for its opening.

    “Section One is completed and will be opened to traffic tomorrow (today). This job is a very careful project and a lot of work has gone into it.

    “We are working on Section 2 and we have started placing concrete. On Sections 3 and 4, we are doing earthworks,” the engineer,  who preferred anonymity,  said.

    Minister of Power, Works and Housing Babatunde Fashola  had last June 17 signed a N4.34 billion Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with AG Dangote Construction Company Ltd., and other stakeholders for the reconstruction of the four-kilometre Apapa-Wharf Road.

    The road was closed to traffic to allow for construction last July 7 following talks with  stakeholders.

    The project is being funded by Dangote,  the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and Flour Mills of Nigeria.

    The engineer, however, noted that the challenges on the project were “still the same, that of utility relocation on the Right of Way (RoW)”.

    Work on the two kilometres of the project under construction had been divided into four sections.

    Section One, which is a distance of about 500 metres, has been cleaned of rubble and construction materials.

    The crash barriers have been painted in red and white to demarcate the entire lane on the Ijora/CMS bound carriageway.

    On Section Two of the project which is another distance of about 500 metres, workmen were seen using concrete machines to lay cement mix over iron rods on the same carriageway.

    Workmen were also seen excavating some portions on Section Three, a distance of about 350 metres.

  • Apapa-Wharf Road reconstruction ‘only 10% completed’

    The Apapa-Wharf Road reconstruction in Lagos State has achieved only 10 per cent completion, an official of the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing (FMPWH), has said.

    Mrs Olukorede Keisha, an FMPWH engineer supervising the project, said yesterday at the project site that the  presence of gas pipes and other public utilities in the road’s Right of Way (RoW) delayed the project’s execution.

    In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), she said the contractors handling the project had resolved the problem.

    Keisha said 200 metres of concrete road and 230 metres of drains had been constructed on section one of the project.

    “The project is about 10 per cent completed; we finished 230 metres of drain and 200 metres of concrete road on section one.

    “We have about four layers of road to make the pavement rigid; the road thickness is 600mm,’’ she said.

    She said the project had four sections.

    Keisha told NAN that a design alteration was done to take care of the gas pipelines in the RoW of the road so as to meet the completion date of June 2018.

    “There is no need to relocate the pipelines again; the pipes are encased. We had to redesign in order to safeguard the pipes for work to continue. It is a shift in alignment, we shifted it forward,’’ she said.

    Keisha said the redesign paved the way for deep excavation to lay a solid foundation for a durable concrete road.

    On potholes on some portions of the highway, she said  the bad portions were being rehabilitated.

    According to her, the ministry will use the Christmas holiday to take care of the most critical portions on the reconstruction zone and other roads in Apapa.

    NAN reports that some rolling machines were being used to compact construction materials on about 500 metres stretch of the road on the Ijora/CMS Carriageway.

    The machines were compacting soil-based materials to connect to a concrete section of the road.

    The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, on June 17 signed a N4.34 billion Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with AG Dangote Construction Company Ltd and some other stakeholders for the reconstruction of the four-kilometre Apapa-Wharf Road.

    The project is being funded by AG Dangote Construction Company Ltd,  Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and Flour Mills of Nigeria.

  • Monarch seeks quick job on Apapa-Wharf road

    Ojora of Ijora, Oba Abdul Fatai Aromire has appealed to the Federal and Lagos State governments to expedite action on the rehabilitation of the Apapa-Wharf road.

    The monarch, in his Sallah message, said the road is one of the major ones where the two governments generate huge revenue. He expressed worry over the gridlock experienced by those who make their living in the axis, adding that the problem would continue to have adverse effect on them and the economy.

    He said some businesses were no longer doing well in Apapa and its environs because their owners were finding it difficult to gain access to their companies, adding that some of them had relocated to better places.

    The monarch appealed to those agitating for Nigeria’s break-up to sheathe their swords, saying dialogue was the best solution to the country’s problems.

    He urged Arewa and Igbo leaders to give room for dialogue for peace to reign in the country.

     

     

  • Dangote Group, others to fund reconstruction of Apapa-Wharf road

    Dangote Group, others to fund reconstruction of Apapa-Wharf road

    The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola on Saturday signed a N4.34 Billion Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Dangote Group and other stakeholders for the reconstruction of Apapa Wharf Road.
    The project is to be funded by AG Dangote Construction Company Ltd, an arm of the Dangote Group, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and Flour Mills of Nigeria.
    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the site was handed over to the stakeholders for commencement of reconstruction works after the agreement was signed in Lagos.
    Fashola explained that the gridlock in Apapa became compounded and had reached an unbearable level as transporters ignored the old system of moving cargo through rail to trucks and containers.
    He said that the choice of the transporters to use road instead of rail for haulage increased gridlock, caused degeneration as well as well as hardship to residents of Apapa.
    The minister commended the “leadership role’’ of the stakeholders to solve the complex problems in Apapa and its environs.

    According to him, the situation has caused stress to residents, business owners and other stakeholders in the state.
    “As a result of all these unsavory practices, we have reached a point of near total gridlock, it is difficult to move cargo in or out, difficult for residents to get home and this must stop,’’ he said.
    Fashola said that it took time to reach an agreement on the project because the stakeholders were putting up an effective design that would address the drainage problem because the area was water logged.
    “We have finished with the design, we now have a Bill of Quantity and the cost of the road is N4.34 billion to be funded and paid for by these three groups, Flour Mills of Nigeria, AG Dangote Construction Company Ltd and NPA,’’ he said.
    The minister said that although the parties were funding the project, the Federal Ministry of Power Works and Housing would supervise it through all the stages to ensure quality and compliance with standards.
    Fashola sought for the cooperation of all residents of Lagos and directed the Apapa Area Commander of the Nigerian Police Force, to apprehend reckless drivers who drive against traffic during the period of construction.
    He also appealed to the DPO to tackle all bureaucracies that would affect free flow of traffic while apprehending offenders.
    Fashola also appealed for synergy among law enforcement and traffic regulatory agencies for better traffic management to reduce stress on road users during the one-year duration of the project.
    The Managing Director, Flour Mills of Nigeria, Mr Paul Gbededo said that Wharf Road was the “most important road in the entire country’’ which needed more attention.
    “This kind of road cannot be handled with levity,’’ he said.
    Responding to issues of lack of holding bays raised by transport unions, the Managing Director of NPA, Ms. Hadiza Usman said that government would support the private sector to drive the initiative to set up new ones.
    “We have received proposals on electronic management of holding bays, we are working through processes and we would soon conclude on that,’’ she said.
    She said that tank farms that do not have holding bays for their trucks would soon be sanctioned.
    Usman said that the NPA was also working on providing weigh bridges within the ports as well as enforce implementation in a few months to take care of problem of high axle load on the roads.
    Mr Joseph Makonjuola, the Honorary Adviser to Dangote Group of Companies assured that the company would contribute its funding as part of its corporate Social responsibility and would still meet its tax obligations to government.
    In his remarks, the Managing Director of AG Dangote Construction Company Ltd, Mr Ashif Juma, while giving a brief of the two-kilometer road project said that rigid pavement would be used on the road.

    He also assured that high quality materials that would withstand stress would be used.
    Representatives of truck owners, transport unions, maritime operators, business owners in Apapa were among stakeholders present at the ceremony. (NAN)