Fashola: Closure Of Third Mainland Bridge Postponed To August

The federal government has postponed the test run repairs and closure of the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos from July to August.

The announcement was made by Babatunde Fashola, Minister of Works, Power and Housing, in a statement issued on Tuesday his Hakeem Bello, his media aide.

According to the minister, the repairs for the bridge was shelved after “wide deliberations” between the ministry, the Lagos State government and other stakeholders.

He added that the postponement was done to support the efforts of the Lagos State government in managing the traffic gridlock in the state.

The statement read, “The three-day closure of the Third Mainland Bridge for Investigative Maintenance Test earlier slated to begin on July 27, 2018, has been shifted to August 24 the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola SAN, has announced. The Shutdown, earlier scheduled to last from July 27 to July 30 will now last from August 24 to August 26, 2018.

“Fashola said the shift in the date was arrived at after due consultations with the Lagos State Government and wide deliberations with other relevant stakeholders adding that the date shift was done “in order to give succour and relief to the people of Lagos State and other inter-state road users and support the efforts of the state government.”

The minister also directed trucks to move to the trailer park built by the ministry in order to decongest the Oshodi-Apapa expressway and allow for speedy repairs of the affected roads.

“On the efforts to decongest the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, Fashola said, in the short term, he has directed the immediate deployment of trucks to the trailer park being constructed by the Ministry with the capacity to accommodate about 300 trucks while construction works for the shoreline protection continues,” the statement continued.

“Also, the on-going palliative work on the sections of the Apapa-Oshodi Road , the on-going construction of the road leading to the Apapa Port from Ijora will soon be completed while the main exit route through Tincan – Oshodi – Oworonshoki is under procurement for award. When completed, the project will enable free flow of traffic in the axis.

The Lagos state government had last week Thursday urged the ministry to consider shifting the proposed closure dates of the bridge, which connects the mainland part of Nigeria’s commercial capital to the Island, to avoid compounding the traffic situation across the state.