The Federal Government has ordered Borini Prono, the contractor handling the construction of a trailer park on Apapa-Oshodi Expressway in Lagos, to return to site and ensure speedy completion of the park which seems to be in perpetual construction.
Government has also ordered the immediate repair of the failed portions of the expressway, beginning from the Tin Can Island Second Gate, through the Coconut bus stop point, to the point where Julius Berger took off its reconstruction of the expressway.
Sylvester Monye, chairman of the Presidential Taskforce on Monitoring, Performance and Evaluation, who disclosed this to BusinessDay, also revealed that the Federal Government has dispatched a team that would be holding a meeting with Borini Prono and other stakeholders.
The meeting slated for 11 o’clock this morning at the Rockview Hotel, Apapa, Monye said, is aimed among other things, at finding out from the contractor, the cost implication and modalities for the speedy completion of the park; how to fix the roads, and to fashion out an arrangement with the trailer and tanker owners, on how to ensure sanity on the expressway.
This initiative, according to the taskforce chairman, follows a meeting with the Economic Management Team, led by Ngozi Okonjo-Iewala, the minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy.
Monye who is also the Special Adviser to the President on Project Monitoring and Evaluation, said he was worried about reports on Apapa-Oshodi Expressway and how the gridlock on the road has made life very difficult for residents, business owners, port operators, motorists and other stakeholders, stressing that it was for this reason that the federal government has moved to ensure quick resolution of these issues.
Apapa stakeholders say government’s order on Borini Prono to return to site couldn’t have come at a better time than now, considering the harrowing experiences of the past couple of weeks on the expressway, arising from the menace of trailers and tankers in and around Apapa.
The trailer park being constructed by Borini Prono has become a construction in perpetuity, raising concerns among stakeholders as to why the contractor is taking almost four years to deliver the park for which the contract was awarded in November 2010.
Officials of the company had explained that apart from funding issues, the delivery of the park was delayed because of a court case. “You know sand miners took us to court when they were asked to move away from here, claiming that this is where they have their business, and this has delayed our work”, an official of the company, who did not want to disclose his name, said.
The official explained further that there were some aspects of the construction that needed to be done, in order to continue work on the park, citing the bridge that would lead trailers to the park, as one of such preliminary construction work.
The bridge is meant to serve the park and will end into the park. All trucks coming into the park will have to turn from the Liverpool roundabout and climb the bridge into the park.
CHUKA UROKO
