If the current effort by the Federal Government goes as planned, the entire 11. 8 km-length of the damaged Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos will soon witness total restoration.
This is due to the approval of N21.074 billion by the Federal Government for the repair of the bridge’s superstructure.
Since the announcement, IFMA Nigeria has described the initiative as “ a good thing”, calling for the annual maintenance of the bridge so that it would not be capitally intensive to maintain.
IFMA also called on the central authority to monitor the project and ensure that quality work is delivered at the end of the day.
Nigeria Chapter of International Facility Management Association (IFMA) is a professional body of facility managers.
Built by Julius Berger Nigeria Plc in the late 70’s, the phase one of the bridge was commissioned by President Shehu Shagari in 1980 and completed by former Head of State, Gen Ibrahim Babangida(retd) in 1990, making it the longest of the three bridges connecting Lagos Island to the Mainland. The others are the Eko and Carter Bridges.
Over three decades down the line, the bridge has deteriorated due to lack of maintenance, leading to the damage of its major expansion joints, bearings, asphalt overlay and carting away of its guard railings.
It would be recalled that on July 6, 2020, it was announced that the Third Mainland Bridge will be closed for six months for repairs.
The bridge was to undergo another round of repairs from Friday, July 24, 2020, to January 24, 2021, for the replacement of damaged bearings and worn-out expansion joints.
The repair was carried out, but not enough to restore the integrity of the 11.8km bridge.
Therefore, it was not surprising when the Federal Government led by President Bola Tinubu, last week, flagged off the emergency repair of the damaged Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos.
The Federal Government, through the Minister of Work, David Umahi, accompanied by the Deputy Governor of Lagos, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, said the ongoing emergency rehabilitation of the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos State will gulp over N21.074 billion.
The sum, he said, was as a result of an expansion of the scope of work to include complete replacement of the asphalt of the bridge deck to the standard two inches to make motoring smoother and safer.
He said previous efforts to fix the bridge did not address all the concerns for total restoration of the integrity of the bridge, hence the need to expand the scope of the repairs.
He added that a special feature agreed with the Lagos State government was to fix spikes on the guard railings to discourage suicide attempts on the bridge.
The minister added that, the repairs of the four ramps of Adekunle/Adeniji would be completed on or before December 13 for Christmas and New Year festivities, while the maintenance of the main carriageway will begin in January 2024.
He explained that the ongoing works concern the superstructure elements of the bridge, explaining that the ministry is currently carrying out investigations as well as the design of the piles, pile caps, piers as well as the deflected deck slab, which will lead to the award of a contract for the restoration of the substructure elements of the bridge at a later time.
Justifying the new contract sum for the bridge’s superstructure repair, the minister said the scope of works has been expanded beyond the subsisting scope of works as awarded, to accommodate the additional works and quantities of work items needed to restore the integrity and serviceability of the very important bridge.
Umahi said “You will recall that the past administration, in a bid to remedy the failed asphaltic surface and expansion joints of the Third Mainland Bridge had awarded a contract for the comprehensive repairs of the loops and ramps connecting the Third Mainland Bridge, including the damaged elements of the bridge superstructures in Lagos State to Messrs Plycon Limited in the total sum of N6,278,063,585.58.
“However, when we came on board, we observed that the project as awarded was for a limited scope and would not address all the concerns we had as regards the total restoration of the integrity of the bridge.
“We had observed that there were extra layers of asphalt on the bridge deck of about 150mm thickness as a result of previous overlays done over time which constitutes extra dead load on the bridge and must be removed before a new layer of asphalt is laid in order not to compromise the integrity of the bridge.
“It therefore became imperative to expand the scope of works beyond the subsisting scope of works as awarded, to accommodate the additional works and quantities of work items needed to restore the integrity and serviceability of this very important bridge.
“This led to the expansion of the scope of the contract to allow for necessary remedial structural work beyond the initial limited scope, culminating in the award of a new contract to Messrs CCECC Nig Ltd in the sum of N21,047 billion which is being flagged off today,” Umahi said.
“This is yet another milestone in the actualisation of the renewed hope agenda of divine President Ahmed Bola Tinubu.
“This amongst other things is aimed at the total repositioning of road and bridge infrastructure in Nigeria and to bring succour to road users who have suffered the effects of decayed infrastructure over the years,” he said.
Experts views
Since the flag-off of the bridge’s repair, many people had commended the Federal Government for the effort to revamp the infrastructure.
President, IFMA, Nigeria, Mr. Lekan Akinwunmi, commended the Federal Government for rooting for the restoration of the Third Mainland Bridge.”
However, he warned that the federal authority must monitor the contractor and ensure that quality work is done on the bridge.
“The Third Mainland Bridge in an important bridge for Lagosians and Nigerians in general, for both residential and commercial reasons.
“But unfortunately, the bridge has been left unattended to for a long time, allowing it to require huge capital for repair,” he said.
According to him, the annual maintenance of the bridge must be at the front burner so that it would not be capital- intensive to maintain.
“If required maintenance are being carried out, the huge amount for repair won’t be necessary. They would have spent such amount across board over the years,” the IFMA boss said.
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