Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, the Second Niger Bridge has been completed.
At the unveiling of President Muhammadu Buhari’s scorecard series (2015-2023), on Wednesday in Abuja, Fashola said:“The Second Niger Bridge is completed. What is remaining is a 4km interchange road at the Asaba end and 2km out of a 7km link road at the Onitsha end.
“The bridge, which was conceived years ago before the Buhari administration came on board, became a reality, following the decision of Federal Government, through the Ministry of Works and Housing, to ensure that a new bridge is put in place to complement the existing one, which is over 50 years old.”
He said, “I can confirm that the second Niger bridge itself is finished. People can walk through the bridge now unimpeded. What remains is the four-kilometer link road on the Asaba side.
“Right now, our dredger is in place, we have to rebuild the road by reclaiming sand, the recent surge of flood has slowed us down. On the Onitsha side, there is a 7kilometer road that links the bridge and the Onitsha-Owerri interchange.”
He speaks further on efforts in the ministry:“The first thing we did when we came into power was we expanded our budget on road infrastructure, sought alternative sources of funding through SUKUK, Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme.”
According to him, the ministry completed 12 road projects covering about 896km, commissioned and handed them over to different communities.
He adds that the government is executing 83 road rehabilitation projects in federal tertiary institutions across the country with 66 projects completed and 46 commissioned.