The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola said the second Niger bridge would be in use before the end of this administration.
Speaking in Abuja on Wednesday at the presentation of President Muhammadu Buhari's scorecard 2015-2023, Fashola said the bridge itself has been completed and people can now freely walk through it.
"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 seven-kilometer road that links the bridge and the Onitsha-Owerri interchange.”
"The commitment I made about the second Niger bridge at the retreat was that before this administration goes, it will be fully operational.”
The minister further said that his target is to see if the link roads could be finished and opened to the public before Christmas to give relief to the large number of commuters who travel at that time.
"What I am targeting is to see if the road can be opened to the public before Christmas and I hope this will be achieved. Opening the road before Christmas will give relief to a large number of travelers who embark on journeys during that period, said Fashola.
Commenting on the impact of the projects, Fashola disclosed that about 339,955 jobs were created in the built sector in the past seven years with 8,352.94km of roads completed, while 250,583 road signs have been installed.
The minister also enumerated the achievements of his ministry under Buhari’s government, noting that 12 road projects covering about 896km have been completed, commissioned, and handed over to their communities while the government is handling 83 road rehabilitation projects in federal tertiary institutions across the country with 66 projects completed and 46 commissioned.
Fashola disclosed that the Federal Government had to look for alternative sources of funding to help fund road projects across the country.
"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, ” he said.
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