The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has inspected the Second Niger Bridge in continuation of hisongoing tour of federal government projects across the country.
He expressed satisfaction at the pace of work on the bridge.
I am very excited because the thing about this project is thatbecause of the alignment, people travelling on the old bridge will saynothing is going on because they cannot see it, but you have come hereand you can see the amount of work that is going on, so Im very veryexcited, the Minister told the journalists who accompanied him on thetour.
Alhaji Mohammed, who inspected construction work at the Asaba andOnitsha ends of the bridge, said when completed, the bridge will easetraffic congestion on the road as well as change the socio-economiclandscape of the South-east and South-South geo-political zones in particular.
He commended the enthusiasm with which the contractor, Julius Berger,is handling the project and gave the assurance that henceforth,funding will no longer be a challenge for the construction of suchprojects.
I think one thing that this government has assured is that fundingwont be a problem because we have many sources of funding and I thinkthe latest is the Presidential Infrastructural Development Fund, whichis actuallyaimed at ensuring that no project like this suffers for lack offunding, the Minister said.
He said having achieved tremendous success with the sub-structuralwork, the project will now witness rapid progress.
While briefing journalists on the level of work on the bridge, theFederal Controller of Works for Anambra State, Mr. Innocent Alumona,said so far phases 1, 2 and 3, which have to do with the foundation,have been completed, and that the contractor is currently on phase 4,
which will end in July this year.
A lot of people are saying no work is going on on the Second NigerBridge because they have not been opportune to visit the site. TheFederal Government actually is not sleeping. A lot of money has beenspent in the process of realising the Second Niger Bridge, and as wego further, we will show you a lot that has been done to prove to someof us who are still doubting that nothing is happening at the SecondNiger Bridge that a lot is ongoing, he said.
Mr. Alumona said some 310 of the 615 piles designed for the bridgehave been sunk, while massive sand-filling of the approach road hasbeen carried out to the height of five metres.
At least 400 Nigerians are currently employed by the contractorhandling the project, which is expected to be completed within thenext two years.
Source: NAN