12 July 2017, Sweetcrude, Lagos — RESIDENTS and business owners in and around the Mile – 2 Tin-Can axis of the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway will have to prepare to live with the perennial gridlock around the area for a long time as hope for the repairs of that part of the road may have been lost.
It was gathered that a significant portion of the road is far from redemption, even as the Federal Government, yesterday, stated that it is constrained of funds to fix the roads as the repair of the road is not included in the 2017 budget.
Disclosing this at the ongoing Summit on the “Establishment, management and operations of Transit Truck Parks”, in Abuja, Director-in-Charge of Highway Management at the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, Mr. Chukwuwike Uzo said that the repair of the road was not budgeted for.
Uzo said that, hopefully, the repair of the roads would be included in the 2018/2019 budget, adding that the government is currently constructing a Truck park opposite Tin Can port that would accommodate 340 trucks.
He said “The government cannot do everything, that is why we are calling on investors to see the opportunities in investing in these infrastructures. The main objective is ensuring safety on our roads”.
Meanwhile, a stakeholder who preferred anonymity disclosed that the contract for repair of the road may have been awarded before now adding that the repair started from Oshodi and was supposed to culminate at the Apapa Wharf.
It will be recalled that the repair of the road was awarded during the immediate past administration, but work on the road was stopped mid way for reasons yet to be ascertained.