By  Yinka Kolawole
Officials of Lagos State government and China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), the firm handling the LASU-Iba road construction project, have adduced different reasons for the recent collapse of a portion of the road. While the state officials attributed the road distress primarily to nature, the project contractors claimed that the faulty design of the foundation of the pre-existing box culvert on the road made it cave-in to flood waters.

At a joint press briefing by the Special Advisers to Lagos State Governor on Works and Infrastructure, that of Transportation, as well as  Media, Messrs. Ganiyu Johnson, Kayode Opeifa and Hakeem Bello, respectively, Johnson stated that the team of engineers that visited the site observed that the pavement on one side of the carriageway collapsed as a result of heavy rainfall which occurred on Saturday 20th June, 2010, and led to serious flooding along the axis, which eventually resulted in failure of a culvert across LASU Iba road at Aperan Canal Near Agboroko.

He assured Lagosians that the four lanes will be returned back to its normal position within the shortest time, adding that the contractor handling the road construction had being mobilized immediately to site for remedial work. CCECC, however, in a statement, claimed that the state government had three years ago, approved its recommendation for the faulty piling diameter of the culvert to be changed from 600m to 750m and the piling from 28m to 35m.

It however remarked that the recommendation was not implemented, claiming that the government complained of being hindered by budgetary constraints.

It explained that the collapse of the road was due to flood waters that flowed from a new road linking the project and destroyed an existing culvert, promising however to build a new 12-metre bridge worth about N150 million to replace the culvert at the collapsed portion of the road within one month, at its own expense.