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Julius Berger plc, the firm to which the Lagos State has contracted the re-construction of Lagos-Badagry Expressway, has begun soil tests on the road, preparatory to the actual commencement of work, perhaps in September this year. Being carried out alongside the soil test is mapping and surveying to determine the width of the road on both sides.
The state government, last month, released N10 billion to Julius Berger as moblisation for the first phase of the multi-billion naira project, which will see the four-lane express road expanded to 10 lanes. The first phase begins from the Eric Moore end of the Iganmu Industrial Estate and terminates at Mile 2.
The cost of the entire project stretching from Eric Moore to Badagry had been estimated at N220 billion, and will be solely financed by Lagos, which hopes to raise the money internally.
An engineer from the construction firm told BusinessDay Wednesday that the test, which is currently being carried out around the Mile Two/Maza-Maza lagoon, will help establish the soil texture, so as to guide the company’s choice of materials among other things when the work begins.
Similar tests, according to the engineer, will also be conducted on all other lagoons, especially those that will require construction of bridges. He said the determination of the soil type is one of the requirements to doing a quality job on the road.
Meanwhile, corporate bodies whose premises fall within the Right of Way (RoW) of the work, have been relocating their businesses following an earlier directive to this effect from the state government. Among such businesses are three commercial banks which had since shut down their branches at Alafia, Coker and Adun Ade Bus Stops along the express road.
Besides the banks, hundreds of property along the road, from Orile-Iganmu to Badagry, will be affected by the project, which aims at further opening up Lagos, Nigeria ’s commercial city, to the sub regional ECOWAS market.
Built into the project are light rail and BusRapid Transit (BRT) to run on the median. The road links Nigeria with other African countries such as Ghana, Togo and Benin Republic.