‘There’s No Realignment’ — Umahi says Tinubu Added 400km to Coastal Highway

Dave Umahi, minister of works, says the Lagos-Calabar Coastal highway project has not been realigned. 

Umahi spoke on Tuesday at the flag-off of the reconstruction of the 376-kilometre Lambata-Bida-Mokwa-Makera-Kontagora highway in Niger state.

The minister had on Monday said President Bola Tinubu directed that the Lagos-Calabar Coastal highway be rerouted through the existing East-West Road from Ondo into Edo state.

Umahi said the directive was intended to prevent the construction of a new alignment along the corridor.

“Divert, do not do any new alignments. Pass the coastal highway through the existing East-West road,” the minister quoted Tinubu as saying.

He added that the decision was also informed by flooding along the East-West road, particularly around the Ughelli axis in Delta state.

According to him, the road was constructed before the effects of climate change were adequately anticipated, while recent flooding had raised concerns about its vulnerability.

Umahi said the plan was to raise sections of the East-West road by about two metres above the existing level and anticipated flood levels.

Speaking at the flag-off of the Niger state road project, the minister said “mischief makers” had given Nigerians the wrong impression about his recent remarks on the coastal highway project.

“The Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway is 750 kilometres. What the president did is add 400 kilometres so that the entire East-West Road that has been submerged due to climate change will be reconstructed and reintegrated into the Coastal Highway,” he said.

The minister said design work was ongoing on the Edo, Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers sections of the project.

He added that construction was ongoing on section 5 in Akwa Ibom, sections 3A and 3B in the state and parts of Cross River, as well as in Ondo and Ogun states.

“There’s no realignment of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal road. What we did was an addition,” Umahi said.

Providing an update on the wider Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project, Umahi said section one, a 47.47-kilometre stretch from Victoria Island in Lagos, had been completed and is ready for commissioning.

He said the dual pavement on section two, covering 55 kilometres and terminating at the Lagos-Ogun boundary, is expected to be completed the following month.

According to him, at the Calabar end, sections 3A and 3B, covering 65 kilometres, had reached more than 30 percent completion.