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Nigeria’s Minister of Works, David Umahi, has defended the price of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Freeway, arguing that the undertaking is inexpensive than related highway initiatives in Nigeria and the world over when its specs and tough terrain are taken under consideration.
Talking in an interview with ARISE Information Anchor Ojy Okpe, Umahi rejected grievance of the freeway’s charge, pronouncing comparisons must be in line with similar carriageways and engineering specs somewhat than just dividing the contract sum by way of the duration of the street.
“I deserve kudos for the price of the coastal freeway,” Umahi stated as he when put next the undertaking with different primary highway trends.
The usage of Segment One of the vital freeway for instance, the minister stated the 47.47-kilometre stretch from Victoria Island to Eleko Village had a freelance worth of about ₦1.06 trillion, however argued that the determine needed to be assessed in opposition to the choice of carriageways and the intensive infrastructure incorporated within the undertaking.
He stated that once the fee was once normalised to a normal two-lane carriageway, it amounted to roughly ₦7.3 billion to ₦7.5 billion in line with kilometre, or about $5.5 million on the alternate charge he utilized in his calculation.
Umahi argued that the determine when put next favourably with different primary highway initiatives, together with the Bodo-Bonny Highway, the East-West Highway and coastal highway initiatives in other places in West Africa.
“It’s a must to examine apple to apple,” he stated, insisting that comparisons which left out variations in highway width, pavement kind, bridges, drainage and terrain created a deceptive impact of the undertaking’s charge.
The minister stated the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Freeway was once being built with strengthened concrete pavement and would come with sun lighting fixtures, underground drainage, two-metre walkways, crash boundaries and a hall reserved for a railway line.
He additionally pointed to the intensive floor growth required alongside the Lagos segment, pronouncing that roughly 30 kilometres concerned the removing of improper subject matter to a mean intensity of about 10 metres, whilst the street degree needed to be raised by way of a mean of about 5 metres.
“You take away the pit, reasonable of 10 metres, and you then fill it again,” Umahi stated, describing the engineering paintings required prior to the pavement itself might be built.
He stated the ones options had to be factored into any significant comparability of the undertaking’s charge with typical highways constructed on much less difficult terrain.
Umahi additionally cited the converting charge of building fabrics, pronouncing the cost of concrete had greater considerably because the contract was once awarded with out a corresponding build up within the contract worth.
“Once we began, concrete was once ₦350,000 in line with cubic metre. Lately, it’s ₦460,000 in line with cubic metre,” he stated. “The contract worth has no longer modified.”
The Works Minister when put next the Coastal Freeway with the Bodo-Bonny Highway in Rivers State, in addition to parts of the East-West Highway, arguing that their prices demonstrated that the Lagos-Calabar undertaking was once no longer surprisingly pricey when assessed on similar engineering phrases.
His defence follows sustained public scrutiny of the undertaking’s charge. Umahi has prior to now argued that the fee licensed for the Coastal Freeway was once less than related initiatives and has again and again disputed calculations in line with a easy cost-per-kilometre components.
In October 2025, he publicly challenged Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde to a debate after the governor puzzled his rationalization of the undertaking’s charge.
Umahi stated world financiers had additionally scrutinised the undertaking’s pricing prior to committing investment to it.
He stated Deutsche Financial institution, which led the financing for Segment One, tested the undertaking prior to the financing was once syndicated and reached a beneficial evaluate of its pricing and building high quality.
“They stated the undertaking was once underpriced,” Umahi stated, including that the financing was once due to this fact “oversubscribed by way of $100 million.”
Umahi has prior to now made the oversubscription declare publicly, pronouncing world monetary establishments appeared the undertaking’s charge as aggressive.
He maintained that the price of one segment may no longer merely be extrapolated around the complete 750-kilometre freeway as a result of terrain and engineering necessities range considerably alongside the direction.
“There aren’t any two sections which might be the similar,” Umahi stated, arguing that bridges, soil stipulations and different engineering necessities would in the long run decide the price of particular person sections.
The minister insisted that once the ones components have been thought to be along the freeway’s specs, the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Freeway represented worth for cash somewhat than the excessively priced undertaking portrayed by way of its critics.
Demola Ojo
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