Reconstruction of the Agbara-Badagry Expressway has started as Contractors Resume Work

The contractors in charge of reconstructing the Lagos-Badagry Expressway segment between Agbara and Badagry are back on the job.

According to The News Agency of Nigeria, the construction company CGC Nigeria Limited abruptly withdrew all of its trucks and earth-moving equipment from the site at the end of August due to a lack of funding, surprising local commuters, drivers, and residents.

The project was abandoned, and the result was a huge traffic bottleneck that lasted for hours, especially when it rained. At its worst, when traffic was at a standstill and became a nightmare for both drivers and pedestrians, delays in traffic began as early as 4 a.m. and continued all day and into the night.
As of Monday, according to a NAN correspondent who visited the site, CGC had brought roughly 12 of its caterpillars and other earth-moving tools to the site near Church-Gate.

Additionally, according to NAN, some of the company's employees were performing menial tasks like digging up muddy places. NAN's further investigation also turned up evidence that the company's trucks had begun transporting filling sand from the Ikoga area to the Church Gate area.
While everything is going on, road users have been jubilant by CGC's return to the area. Mr. Kamarudeen Alaka expressed his happiness at the return of the construction workers to the site in a statement to NAN. He claims that due of the constant traffic, the Church-Gate section of the expressway has turned into a nightmare for both drivers and commuters using the road.
“That CGC workers are back to site calls for celebration. This has shown that our government is a listening one, we have begged them to pay the contractors so that they would return and now they are back. “We thank President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Raji Fashola, for listening to our cries,” he said.
A senior employee of the construction company, who begged to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to comment on the company's behalf, verified that the company had not received payment.

However, he said that the corporation and the ministry had made plans for a return to the location. Until the government paid the firm, he continued, the workers would not work "aggressively," but rather "gradually."

Traditional leaders in Badagry communities appealed to the Federal Government on October 19 regarding the abandoned Lagos-Badagry Expressway, according to NAN.

They admitted to NAN that they were really concerned about the abandoned sections of the road.
The Minister of Works and Housing had earlier informed the royal fathers in Badagry that the project's first lane would be finished before the end of the year, according to the Onimeke of Imeke Kingdom in Badagry, Oba Abraham Ogabi.

“Instead of completing the project, the contractors have now abandoned portions of the project around the Ibiye community.
“The abandoned portions of the road have become a problem to the people and whenever it rains, there is gridlock in which motorists and their passengers spend several hours on the same spot,“ he earlier told NAN.

References

[1] Punchng, 'Contractors begin Agbara-Badagry Expressway rehabilitation' (online, 2022) <https://punchng.com/contractors-begin-agbara-badagry-expressway-rehabilitation/>.