Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway Project: Victims Of Demolished Buildings Paid about N10bn In Compensations

By Missang AKPET

The Federal Government has revealed that the first 47 kilometers of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway will be available to the public by May next year.

Minister of Works, David Umahi who this revealed during a meeting with contractors in Abuja on Tuesday hinted that the government has allocated a total of N10bn as compensation for property owners who were impacted by the demolitions required for the development of the 700km Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.

The minister explained that the federal government had to cut down the project size to six lanes especially from sections two, three, and four.

"Some people have been writing that we have stopped the project, no the project hasn't been stopped. As we are talking now, over four kilometres of concrete road has been completed on six lanes.

“We had to establish a new path due to complaints made by MTN on its subsea cable and Okuaja community, we had to reroute not to the new alignment, not to the gazetted alignment but far away from the two, and we came back to a new alignment at kilometre 25. So the work is ongoing and it’s moving smoothly.

"We have paid the total compensation of close to N10bn and we are not owing. The contractor is highly commended for a very beautiful job, commitment and being very reasonable.

“These projects are investments, and they have inherent returns on investments, By May 29, 2025, we should have completed section one of the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway. 

"Apart from the land, we are going to acquire for tourism, factories and industries when we tow the road within 10 years we would recover the cost of the money so it is an investment.”

“Sections three and four have been finalised, but we are going to do stakeholder engagement in either Cross River or Akwa Ibom because that is where those sections will get started so that we can ensure procurement” the minister said.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Atiku Bagudu, has stated that plans are on the way for 2024 Supplementary Appropriation Bill which will receive partial funding from the N50 billion Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF).

Bagudu who made this statement during a briefing to the Joint Committees of the Senate and House of Representatives on National Planning and Economic Affairs cited that the supplementary budget will be allocated to fund some transformational projects which comprised the Lagos – Calabar Coastal Road, the Sokoto – Badagry Road proposal, and the finalization of all current railway projects lacking federal government counterpart funding