BY FAVOUR NNABUGWU

ABUJA—Minister of Works, Arch Mike Onolememen, Monday, denied paying N52billion as palliatives on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

The Minister in a statement said the ministry had so far paid N1.1billion palliative on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, spanning 127.8-kilometres awarded at a cost of N167.8 billion.

The minister said: “The sum of N620 million was paid to Julius Berger Nigeria Plc for the first section, while about N522 million was paid to Reynolds Construction Company, RCC, for the second section of the expressway.

“The section I which traverses from Lagos to Shagamu interchange is a six-lane dual carriage way with a fly-over at the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, junction, while section II will maintain the existing four lanes with rehabilitation of six fly-overs.”

He said the construction of roads depended on the design of pavement, specifications of materials, bills of engineering measurement and evaluation used the forum to inform the public about the new innovations of the Ministry to make Nigerian roads more durable.

He said the Ministry had also introduced reconstructed Benin-Ore road due to the perennial failure on the alignment.

He was of the hope that given the rate at which work was progressing and with assured funding from the SURE-P, the Abuja-Lokoja road should be completed by 2014.

Onolememen assured the public that steady steps were being taken towards the realization of the Second Niger bridge, adding that two federal roads, Baro-Kachia-Agai and Ikorodu-Shagamu, were being re-designed.