Posted by Louis Iba and Oluyinka Akintunde on
THE Federal Government is to shut down the Niger Bridge for two months to facilitate maintenance of the strategic East-West highway link.
THE Federal Government is to shut down the Niger Bridge for two months to facilitate maintenance of the strategic East-West highway link.
The bridge directly connects the towns of Asaba (Delta State) and Onitsha (Anambra State).
But the closure, which will be between July 29 and September 30, is expected to last between 11.00pm and 4.00am each day.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Works, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, who disclosed this in Abuja on Tuesday, said, 'The closure is to enable us carryout special repair and works and strengthen the bridge."
He, however, said that during this period of closure, a standby ferry would be available to convey emergency traffic across the river.
He apologised for the inconveniences the closure might cause and advised members of the public, pedestrians and motorists who ply the road to re-programme their movements in line with the scheduled maintenance hours.
The government early this year, approved N2billion for the strengthening of the existing Niger Bridge.
The ministry had in its special report for 2004, listed low budgetary allocations from the government, the general insecurity in the Niger Delta, armed robbery attacks on personnel as well as scarcity and high cost of basic construction materials, such as petroleum and bitumen products, as the problems of road construction in the country.
Other problems listed in the report include recovering un-amortised advances from contractors, delay in honouring payment certificates arising from inadequate budgetary provisions and late/non release of funds.
It also listed are interferences in prioritisation of budgetary provisions, as well as payment schedules that does not match work schedules among the factors militating against the delivery of road projects on schedule.
The report said that, of the N15.4billion appropriation meant for the ministry in 2004, the Federal Government had released N15.3billion, leaving a shortfall of N64.7million.
The PUNCH, Wednesday, July 27, 2005