The Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, has dismissed claims that parts of the legacy coastal roads under the President Bola Tinubu-led administration are damaged.
Umahi made the statement on Thursday, during an on-the-spot supervision of the road. He commended the construction company, Hi-tech, for its “magic performance” in delivering one of the President’s legacy projects.
While addressing critics, the minister said, “I don’t know how many times I have to explain that there’s no damage in section one of the coastal road.
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“Everybody is now a content creator; everybody is now an engineer of the coastal highway. It is the reason I had to take journalists through the route.
“There is no damage to any of the completed sections. What these content creators are showing is the massive sandfilling that we are doing, and until it’s covered, the rain is permitted to do whatever it wants to do.”
He added, “Again we have only 2 1/2 km that we are tackling. I have directed the controller to allow journalists to go for supervision so they will see the extent of work being carried out.”
Umahi also praised the contractor’s work ethic, stating, “I beat my chest to say we don’t do selective apportioning to contractors because the materials are the same, so I give Hi-tech high kudos.
“They would have gone far in May, but we are observing. We know Hi-tech is capable of doing 1 km per day.
“We gave them 36 months, but they have spent less than 16 months. In section two they have done 10 km of concrete pavement.”
He concluded, “They are the example of what partnership should be. They are development partners to the nation of Nigeria.
“ I commend them, and I commend Mr President very highly because he’s a man of good courage; he’s a man on a mission.
“You can see the development the road is going to bring not just to Lagos and Ogun but even to Calabar.”
