Construction work on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, which reached fever pitch shortly before the March 28, 2015 presidential election, has almost ground to a halt two months after the inauguration of President Muhammadu Buhari as Julius Berger, one of the firms handling the N167billion project, has left the site.
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The other contractor, Reynolds Construction Company (RCC), handling Section II of the road (Ibadan to Sagamu interchange), is still carrying on skeletal construction work on the road.
Not only has Julius Berger, handling Section I (Sagamu interchange to Lagos), stopped working, it is also said to have disengaged some of its staff working on the road.
Confirming the disengagement of some staff in an interview granted the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Julius Berger’s Public Relations Officer, Susan Obi, said, “We have to let some workers go because you cannot keep people when there is no money to pay them. The company is trying to have a new face where we pay all our workers. We are restructuring.”
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According to Saturday Tribune’s findings, the construction company opted to abandon the site due to the failure of government to effect payment as scheduled. It was found out that the company is owed about N3billion currently.
While the RCC is still on site, its pace of work has seriously reduced because, according to sources, the management of the company is worried about what will be the decision of the government concerning the road.
However, the Presidency explained on Friday that reconstruction work on major sections of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway stopped due to what it described as a legal issue.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Sheu, told Saturday Tribune in a telephone interview that “payment is not the reason for the stoppage of work on that road.
“While one of the contractors has pulled out, the other is working on its own section,” he said even as he blamed the problem on a company that had previously taken the government to court on the road.
“Government is trying to resolve it because government is concerned about the plight of millions of people using that road,” he said.
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