The Lagos State government have concluded plans to construct a fourth bridge across the Lagos lagoon.
The 38 km bridge will be the second longest in Africa after the 6th October Bridge over the great River Nile in Egypt.
Lagos, which was Nigeria’s capital city from 1914-1991 has its other major bridges built by the British colonial governments or Nigeria’s federal government.
The project is designed as a Public-Private Partnership PPP and has been awarded to the Chinese civil engineering giant, CCECC-CRCCIG CONSORTIUM at a cost of USD 2.5 billion. The 2 x 4 lane carriageway cross-sectional road will feature 3 toll plazas and 9 interchanges.
The concessioner will take the tolls for 40 years before handing the bridge over to the Lagos state government.
The bridge is to start from Abraham Adesanya Street in Ajah area of Lagos and traversing all the way to Lagos-Ibadan Expressway on the other end of the state.
The government says the rationale for the new bridge was to “relieve severe congestion on the existing” bridges and “open new areas of the City for future developments”.
At least 800 buildings are earmarked for demolition to make way for the project.
The groundbreaking for the project will be in March after the governorship elections this year sparking concerns that this may be merely a political stunt to improve the electoral chances of Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu. The governor is facing stiff competition from opposition parties eager to wrest Nigeria’s commercial capital from the hegemony of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC and its political godfather, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu who has held sway in the state since 19999.
If the project commences as scheduled, the project is expected to be delivered in 48 months in 2027.
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