Tinubu commissions 30km Part 1 of Lagos-Calabar Coastal Freeway from Ahmadu Bello Strategy to Eleko 

President Bola Tinubu has commissioned the primary accomplished part of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Freeway.

The newly inaugurated Part 1 spans 30 kilometres, stretching from Ahmadu Bello Strategy to Eleko Village in Lekki Peninsula, Lagos. It’s a six-lane twin carriageway designed to spice up connectivity and spur financial exercise alongside Nigeria’s shoreline.

President Tinubu expressed satisfaction and fulfilment in the course of the commissioning ceremony held in Lagos on Saturday, saying,

“It’s a nice honor for me and a way of fulfilment to face earlier than you to fee the finished a part of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Freeway Hall. That is Part 1, Part 1 from Ahmadu Bello Manner of the 750km iconic undertaking.” 

The undertaking, which formally commenced in March 2024, is being constructed by Hitech Building Firm in phases and can ultimately hyperlink Lagos to Cross River State, traversing the coastal areas of Ondo, Delta, Edo, Bayelsa, Rivers, and Akwa Ibom.

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On the commissioning, Minister of Works David Umahi mentioned the federal government paid compensation for each shanties and everlasting homes affected by the undertaking, despite the fact that the regulation doesn’t require fee for constructions alongside the gazetted route.

“By regulation, we weren’t imagined to pay compensation for shanties alongside the gazetted route. We paid compensation for individuals who had their shanties, we paid compensation for individuals who had their actual homes,” he mentioned. 

• Umahi revealed that the federal authorities disbursed a complete of N18 billion in compensation for Part 1 of the freeway. He revealed that whereas compensation duties ordinarily fall to state governments underneath Federal Govt Council (FEC) tips, President Tinubu instructed the Ministry of Works to supervise the funds straight, guaranteeing that the undertaking would proceed with out delays.
• Addressing issues over the influence on Landmark Seashore Resort, the minister assured that no infrastructure belonging to Landmark was broken in the course of the freeway’s building. Following the president’s directive, the street was rigorously designed to protect current constructions as a lot as potential, even when this meant deviating from the gazetted route. At one level, the twin carriageway splits into two lanes to accommodate the resort’s premises.

“The Landmark infrastructure is unbroken; what went was their encroachment on our entrance shoreline,” Umahi defined, citing the Supreme Court docket ruling that the federal authorities holds possession of the 250-meter shoreline from the coast. 

Along with the coastal freeway, President Tinubu commissioned a number of street tasks throughout southern Nigeria. These embrace the rehabilitation of the Calabar-Ugep-Katsina-Ala Highway (Part II) in Benue and Cross River States, the dualisation of the East-West Highway (Eleme Junction to Ahoada) in Rivers State, the Alesi-Ugep part in Cross River, and the improve of a 15km stretch from Eleme Junction to Onne Port in Rivers State.