Apparently, there is no respite in sight for motorists on Eko Bridge as the repair work on Akpongbon Bridge which was burnt by fire almost three months ago is dragging and taking longer than expected.
Travel time and cost on the bridge have increased by more than 200 percent as it now takes about two hours to get to the Island from Costain, a journey that, under normal circumstances, would take less than 30 minutes. Correspondingly, it costs N300.00 to make the same trip as against N100.00 before now.
This is not even the bad news. What is bad news, instead, is that the repair work which is the cause of this untold hardship, is not ending anytime soon, according to workers on site.
When this reporter visited the repair project site Tuesday morning, what he saw typifies the Biblical saying that ‘’The Harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few.’’
Only about seven workers were on site, working. From what we saw on ground, all that have been done, since March 23, 2022 when the fire incident happened, roughly three months, are the clearing of the debris, scraping of the burnt parts of the pillars, about 10 of them, and preparing them for recasting.
‘’The work here is much. As you can see, we are just working on the sub-structure of the bridge after which we will work on the super-structure. We are going to change the bearings of the bridge and that is part of the super-structure I am talking about,’’ one of the workers on ground told this reporter.
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The worker who did not disclose his name, said they were working hard to see that the work was completed in good time. ‘’We feel the pain people are going through here, but the work is much. It may take up to December because we also have to work on this place we are standing (under the bridge),’’ he said.
Gradually but steadily, Eko Bridge is becoming another highway to hell after Apapa, Nigeria’s premier port city which, for 12 years, was a nightmare for motorists and sundry commuters.
Since March 23, when fire burnt a section of Akpongbon Bridge, leading to the partial closure of Eko Bridge to traffic, commuters have not been having it easy passing through Eko Bridge which is a major route to the island.
At the onset of the repair work, former Controller of Works in Lagos, Olukayode Popoola, said the federal government had declared the repair of the bridge an emergency because of its strategic importance as a major link to the business hub of Lagos.
“We have decided to do remedial work on the burnt section of the bridge by putting up some reinforcement and casting them. That, we hope, will be able to hold the bridge pending when the result of the test is out to enable us do a comprehensive repair work on the bridge,” the controller said
“I am a Lagosian and I know what people are going through on Eko Bridge as a result of the fire incident on Akpongbon Bridge. Eko Bridge is important to all of us, especially those who live on the Island or have their businesses in that axis. As government, we are concerned and that is why we are doing our best to ensure that the suffering on that route is ended,” he added.
In spite of this, repair work on the bridge still drags and to worsen the situation, BusinessDay checks revealed that Popoola has ceased to be the Controller of Works having resigned from office since the end of May, 2022.
‘’I have retired from the Ministry of works and housing since the end of last month. I am currently the gubernatorial candidate of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) which has Kwakwanso as its presidential candidate. My people need me and I have gone to serve them,’’ the former controller told this reporter on phone Monday afternoon.
Though there is no replacement for him yet, he assured that a new controller would be around the next one week. ‘’He will be updating you on the progress of work,’’ he said.
