Tinubu commissions reconstructed Apapa-Oworonshoki-Ojota-Oshodi Expressway

• Dangote urges FG to encourage public private partnership in Infrastructure development

The Federal Government has commissioned the recently reconstructed Apapa-Oworonshoki-Ojota-Oshodi Expressway and the newly rehabilitated Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos State on Sunday.

The Senate President, Senator Godwin Akpabio, who represented the His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR at the commissioning ceremony stated that the occasion is a drive through of a Public, Private Partnership (PPP) through the Apapa-Oworonshoki-Ojota-Oshodi Expressway and the newly rehabilitated Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos State.

He stated that this is a government that promised Nigerians a renewal of hope, adding “this is the occasion I may regard as a drive through of the completed PPP being constructed and reinforced and very well-done road from Apapa through Oshodi, Ojota, Oworonshoki Expressway and the newly rehabilitated Third Mainland Bridge.

Sen. Akpabio also commended the minister of works, Engr. David Umahi for being able to do a very difficult job well.

He recalled how he was trapped for hours some years ago on the Apapa road axis.

He highlighted that this project started way back in 2018 and slowly by slowly it is completed under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

According to him,” This is a government that promised Nigerians a renewal of hope and that is what we are witnessing today. It is a hope renewed not just for Lagos, but for the whole country. It may interest some of those who do not know that Lagos is the cradle of all the entirety of the tribes in Nigeria. In Lagos, there is no tribe that is not represented, so Lagos is not only welcoming but the city of empowerment. Lagos is also a city that any child that come from anywhere has the chance for employment opportunities.

He thanked Aliko Dangote, the HITECH Construction Company and the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) for taking up the job and being HITECH Construction Company being a local construction company.

He maintained that the third mainland bridge is beaming due to the work going on there to protect the bridge for the next 50 years.

“This is the Renewed Hope of Mr. President and I want to thank the governors for keying into the programme.

In his remarks, the Minister of Works, Engr, Sen, David Umahi stated that the Apapa-Oworonshoki-Ojota-Oshodi Expressway is 26km by 10 lanes which was started in 2024 and completed under President Bola Tinubu with Tax credit scheme.

Umahi explained that “we don’t have a reconstructed road but a road built on concrete. A new technology that is suitable to our environment that has been introduced and we will earn tax credit.

“The cost of Asphalt which is imported was 650,000 per tonne, but now 1.4m per tonne. Asphalt has emission unlike the concrete technology.”

The minister said that the third Mainland bridge was more than reconstruction because all the bridge expansion joints have given way.

Umahi revealed that the third Mainland Bridge in its 35 years running witnessed only putting Asphalt on the road, thus giving rise to potholes.

“We removed the dead loads, then put exotic solar lights. I went with the minister of finance to visit under the bridge and saw what illegal dredging was doing to the bridge. Now any sand excavation must be done 10km distance from the bridge. Carter Bridge and third Mainland need urgent attention, I initiated a lot of policy to make us to be doing what we are doing now,”

In his address, the Chairman of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote said that he was deeply honoured to witness the commissioning of the national strategic infrastructure, noting that the infrastructure began in late December 2018 with couple of delays of which his company was given section one and section three up to the toll gate.

He pointed out that government later realized that only section two that was built with asphalt has totally collapsed.

“ When we were finishing this ones we were given section two to include again. That is why it took a very long time to commission the road. However, the road was never commissioned or visited by any government official apart from the former minister of finance, Mrs. Zainab who came to find out about the noise as to whether to use concrete on the road.

“ They gave example of the road built in Ghana between Accra and Temma by Kwame Nkrumah, and the road is still there. The minister even said that we should reduce the structure of the road because aircraft can land there and that is the truth,” Dangote said.

He stated further that the occasion marks a significant step in the journey to transform Nigeria’s infrastructure landscape as we reflect on Apapa-Oworonshoki-Ojota-Oshodi Expressway, stressing “We are excited at the significant impact that the road project has actually and will continue to on the Nigerian industrial ecosystem.

The Oworonshoki-Ojota-Oshodi Expressway, he said, is a critical aspect that connects various markets to the key economic centers and also a major road for exports and non-oil from Nigeria.

Dangote lamented that 70 per cent of people that lived in Apapa checked out to Abuja because it takes us two weeks to get into the port on this Isolo road.

“If you go and check, many of us actually lost our capital in trying to do our businesses as such companies have most of our businesses there in the port. And in two months we calculated that we lost over N60billion in demurrage alone. That is why we pleaded with the government to come up with a very creative initiative.

“Many of us will recall that for several years , before the reconstruction of the road started in 2018, the Oworonshoki-Ojota-Oshodi Expressway was in an extreme and suboptimal state with a failed and collapse section and death traps. This severally hampered transportation of good and shifted access to market, shipping and manufacturing industries and disrupting supply chain across the entire economic landscape.

“The companies suffered increased logistic cost which was ultimately passed on to the Nigerian consumers. In our case what we lost we never passed on to the consumers. We did our bit. To the average Nigerian it amount to significant time loss due to the traffic of up to two week to get into the port and also to move around Apapa take hours and it created negative impact on gross productivity and life.”

He advocated for the positive impact that could be achieved with public collaboration with the private sector utilizing the visionary framework of Executive Order 007 Road Infrastructure Development and Refurbishment through tax credit scheme.

He hinted the Dangote Group participant has been able to complete the capital for the reconstruction of the entire 7km length of the Oworonshoki-Ojota-Oshodi Expressway expansion to 10 lanes to two service lane, three main lane and four drainages on the road and this has actually made the road great.

He explained that the PPP has enable the government to provide avenue to forget going through a budget circle that causes incredible delays to projects gross escalation.

“ The scheme also permits recouping  the cost of investment within public, private partners, thus enable the government to deploy its resources to other uses while providing investment opportunities to business partners. The Oworonshoki-Ojota-Oshodi Expressway will be a catalyst for economic development in employment opportunities and after construction it also permitted the accumulation of experience of building of roads across Nigeria,” he added.

Dangote advocated that given this scheme it is recommended that the Federal Ministry of Works gives serious consideration to replacing the Nigerian Asphalt Road network with building and maintaining concrete roads with 100 percent local inputs.

He declared that the road infrastructure is good for the economy and also provides access to local communities leading to increase to domestic and international alliance for the effective operation of the manufacturing, retail, labour and housing with multiplier effect across the value chains including urban renewal.

The concrete roads, he added are by their very way built to last and eliminate the challenges of the conventional asphalt, because 100 percent of the Nigerian asphalts are being imported, therefore anytime there is escalation in price the contractors will come back for escalation which is normal.

He stated further that the road also adds to the sensitive appeal, creating a more conducive environment for business activities.

“Dangote Group consider it a great privilege to partner with the Federal Government of Nigeria under the leadership of Mr President in finding our commitment to national development and prosperity. While we appreciate in the opportunity in participating in this project, we recognize the need to come to allow for the development of other infrastructure under a viable and sustainable cases.

“ It is imperative that the scheme should be revisited to make it more viable for participants. It is only Dangote, MTN, and NLG and I don’t think there are any other private company that has started. There are actually a couple of companies that signed but when they go in, they realize what is in it. It now stands that the recovery of the investment and the profitability of the projects are severely impacted by the current arrangement. I also want people to know that we have only recover only 40 percent of what we have put in from the tax scheme. It will take up to 20 years to recover all our money, in essence we look at it as a CSR. When you look at the cost of this there is no way you will go and make money and even if you don’t build the road, we will end up paying demurrage, especially more than the cost of the road. So, I want to thank the government for allowing us to grow,” he emphasized.

He expressed his appreciation to the Federal government for this opportunity for a public private partnership involvement in infrastructure services.

“We are particularly grateful to Mr. President for the courageous and bold steps taken to confront head-on the incontrovertible challenges that actually impede the growth of the economy. Any economy that does not have infrastructure, the growth of the economy will be very slow. So, we thank Mr. President for focusing on infrastructure.

“We commend your determined efforts to create business environment that will that will hold and encourage the private sector to effectively play as an engine of growth. We assure your excellency of our full support and commitment towards a one trillion-dollar economy. We will do our own and want to tell you Mr. President that we will get there if we are given the opportunity of contributing to make that one trillion- dollar mark.” Dangote assured.

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