Minister for Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola

By Ngozi Onyeakusi— The Federal Government has assured that the Second Niger Bridge project is on course and would be completed by 2022.
In the breakdown of the cost of the project which stood at N414 billion, showed that the bridge alone will cost N206 billion, while ancillary roads linking the bridge would cost about N208 .
The Minister for Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, made this know during a town hall meeting with stakeholders and host communities of Second Niger Bridge on Friday, November 20, 2020.
The minister also carried out a project update inspection of the main works and associated infrastructure of the Second Niger Bridge project in Anambra and Delta States.
He urged agitating persons in the area to think about the economic benefits of the project to them.
While pointing out that some grounds on the job had been lost owing to conflicts resulting from compensation, Fashola urged people who are agitating in the area, to think about the economic benefits of the project to them
He reminded the stakeholders and host communities that beyond the bridge and the roads, the materials needed for the construction were big economic empowerment for host communities and people of the two states of Anambra and Delta.
He said, “Let me speak to what this project will do, what it is doing and what it will be delivering. In order to complete this project, this company will be needing 644 aggregates. The contractors won’t import these; they will be buying them from here.
“They will need four million cubic tonnes of sand; 68,000 tonnes of cement and 21,000 tonnes of re-enforcement. The company will need 19m litres of diesel which will be supplied by contractors as it does not produce diesel while 1400 indigenous workers will be employed to work on the bridge.”
He noted that from the start of the project the price of land in the area began to go up.
Fashola has for some days, been making official visits to the 3 flagship projects under the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund and assured of President Muhammadu Buhari’s commitment to the completion of these 3 projects by 2023.
These projects include the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Dual Carriageway, the main works and associated infrastructure of the Second Niger Bridge and the reconstruction, rehabilitation and expansion of the Lagos-Ibadan Dual Carriageway.