December 04, (THEWILL) – Construction giant and contractor of the Second Niger Bridge, Julius Berger, has formally handed over the multi-billion naira project to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
In a brief ceremony at toll area of the bridge on Sunday, Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, expressed satisfaction with the project.
Umahi, who confirmed that repairs had been effected on the vandalised portions, said the bridge is open to concession to any private company who would be ready to complete all the ancillary roads, collect tolls and recoup investments.
Umahi was conducted around the bridge by the Managing Director of Julius Berger, Dr Lars Richter.
“We have light issues and we have put things together on how to permanently have lights restored, especially at night. What we have agreed is to deploy solar solutions in the coming weeks so that every night we don’t have to run diesel.
“The roads are going to be completed when we have completed the two inter-changes, one is taking us off from Asaba Town to cut off the traffic and the other one is going to be done by Reynolds Construction Company Ltd to avoid Onitsha Town and take you straight to Obosi.
“President Bola Tinubu is very committed to the project. We are going to acquire more, so that we can build service stations, filling stations, restaurants, supermarkets and other facilities as we see in the Western world.
“We are determined to do that, the need to do this with the interchanges is going to be a very smart one, so that over the years, we can have a beautiful and maintained road”, he said.
The Minister, disclosed ongoing plans to ease traffic on the old and new bridges during the festive period.
The Second Niger Bridge, which is 1.6 kilometers long, links Anambra and Delta State.
