By Linus Akomolafe
Nine months after the closure of Airport road link bridge following an explosion of a tanker conveying 33, 000 litres of Premium Motor Spirit, motorists and road users along the routes have continued to groan over delay in reopening of the bridge, noting that Federal Government has failed in monitoring project.
Speaking with IkejaBird, a motorist, Patrick Samuel said, the Federal Government has not monitored the project since the contract was awarded and it is the reason for slow work on the bridge.
“How come it is taking them ten months to reopen the road. The road is a federal road and for them to be giving priority to the service lane, it simply means they don’t know the issue. The real issue is the airport road link bridge and not the service lane. Most people who go to the airport are finding it difficult to navigate,” he said.
Explaining the rigor using the alternative routes, Patrick stated that motorists drive to Oshodi to navigate from Anthony before going to Airport road which has resulted in waste of fuel within the last ten months.
He said: “They should have focused on the bridge and finished it first before anything. And those of us who are Okada riders, the police are disturbing us. The Taskforce would come and demand for N20, 000 from us when they arrest us and how much we are getting. It is because of the opportunity to help people to their work place that still makes us remain here despite that, they are still disturbing us. We charge N100 from Toyota bus stop to 7/8, while we charge N300 from Toyota to Nacho.”
For Vincent Ekene, the risk of using okada to work along the highway is increasing everyday and that FG should place priority by hastening the reopening of the bridge.
“People are suffering because of what is happening here. Sometimes when we are going to Airport road and airport junction, I prefer to board buses but when I get here and cannot find buses, I have to use a bike and it has not been easy for us”
He added that the bridge rehabilitation is taken longer and that the purpose for the closure has not been achieved.
“They came here on Monday to do one or two things, and since then we have not seen them. I don’t know the purpose of closing the bridge. The road construction they are working on got to the bridge and stopped; they have not finished it. If they really want to open the bridge in December, they should continue the work there because right now there is no option this bridge would be opened by December. Everything happening has been politicised,” he said.
A road user who identified himself as Chuks noted that what he has to say is that the fault lies in the hands of those in charge of road construction.
“The road has been closed for so long with the hope that it would be reopened at times when nothing is being done on the bridge. We don’t know how they are working on this project, but all we want is to let the work be done so that motorists can all have peace of mind because this project is taking too long. I am not happy the thing is taking too long and our happiness should be that it would be opened at the said time,” he said.
He revealed that some part of the road was opened last Thursday stressing that the contractors are doing the work sluggishly and not showing seriousness in fast tracking the process.
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