By Babatunde Jimoh

Minister of Works, Engr. David Umahi, has lamented that most Nigerians driving on the major bridges in Lagos such as Third Mainland , Cartar and Marina bridges are not aware of the danger beneath the structures due to carbonization and chlorination on the pile caps.

A pile cap is a thick concrete mat that sits on top of piles to create a stable foundation for a bridge.

This was exposed by the Minister weekend , when he took a tour of under bridges in Lagos with members of the National Assembly Committees on Works.

He explained that chlorination is the ability of the pile cap to absorb the chloride water that is attacking the rod inside.

“And if that is not arrested, what you see is that suddenly this very strong structure will become like biscuits because the reinforcement inside would have rusted. And this is the major problem, but even greater problem is what is happening below the water with the piles,” Umahi said.

The Minister explained that some of the piles have detached from the pile caps. Some of the piles are no longer inside any sand, pointing out that the problem is aggravated due to illegal mining of sand over the years among other issues.

Speaking during the tour, Umahi said the essence is to let the National Assembly see the dangers beneath the bridges.

“The Third Mainland bridge has a number of problems. First is the the top deck, over the years, the maintenance of the top deck was by adding asphalt on top, so we now created a super elevation and a lot of potholes due to failures of this asphalt leading to a lot of accidents. So, when we came on board, what we did was to clean out all the entire layed asphalts, and that gave the bridge a relief,” he said.

While thanking President Ahmed Bola Tinubu for granting them the intervention fund to carry out the repairs on the bridges, he said, “The President has come to correct the ills of this country. And because he’s determined to correct it, everybody wants this thing to be done overnight.”

He said these bridges were not touched by past administrations in the past 53 to 60 years.

“But he’s doing it, and people don’t even know what he’s doing over there. So, people can not assess us for that because they are not seeing what we are doing. But a lot of work is going on day and night over those locations.

Umahi said, based on the President’s intervention, that they have commissioned Juslius Berger to carry out investigations on the bridges.

“Beside that, we have also commissioned another independent consultant to also go inside the water. So, with these four documents, each will give us a design and solution.”

The Minister said that with what has been seen during the tour, he will be directing the Ministry of Works Design Department to immediately procure a project to understudy all the bridges in Lagos.

Let us see what is happening even on deck and the superstructure, and then phase 2 will be to understudy what is happening within the piles.”

He said many might ask why Lagos, but he said, “Do you know the amount of money we get from VAT and withholding tax in Lagos State? It’s huge. If any of these bridges collapses, you will not get this money again into the federation account.”

He added, “This is very important. These bridges are critical infrastructure for the continuous income into the federation account. And we must see it as such as Nigerians.”

Engr. Umahi pleaded with the National Assembly to assist the ministry in terms of budgeting.

“The National Assembly should give us attention on this. If you want to call for a conference on our bridges, we are willing to assist you.

“But it’s important that the National Assembly address their minds that we have problems. You know, that there are no problems that cannot be surmounted. But there are no problems that should be overlooked.”

“We have proposed that #341 billion will be needed in 2025 to attend to our bridges. We don’t know how much this is going to cost if we are to rebuild this Carter bridge, and the third mainland bridge, even #30 trillion, will not do it. So, a stitch in time saves nine.

“We will like the National Assembly to please give us the package not just the money, but let people understand that we have problems so that, God forbid, if anything happens, let them not start calling the President or calling Minister of Works to declare an emergency on these bridges.