By Abiola Olawale
Following the commencement of the construction of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, the Federal Government announced it has begun the design of the Badagry-Sokoto Coastal Highway project.
The Minister of Works, David Umahi, made this disclosure during an inspection of the end of section one, phase one of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and its realignment in Lagos on Sunday.
Umahi described the Sokoto-Badagry highway as an important project as it will link the South-West, South-South, North-East, North-West, and North-Central regions of Nigeria, once completed.
According to him, the president has directed the Ministry of Works to begin designs for the project, adding that the project would kick off once the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approves it.
He stated: “I’m happy that Mr President has also directed me to start the immediate design of the Sokoto-Badagry Coastal Highway. This one is a spur of the Coastal highway, and that one is 1000 kilometres.”
“We’ve started the design and I’m very sure that as soon as the Federal Executive Council approves it, we will be starting at the Sokoto side, which is the zero point.”
“We also have another spur which is going to go from Enugu -Abakaliki-Ogoja going to Cameroon. So, we have that spur and it’s about 361 kilometres, going through Otukpo to Benue to Nasarawa and ends up at Apo in Abuja.”
“We are also going to be presenting it to Mr President, and when this is done, then the coastal routes as we promised will go to circle the entire country,”
The New Diplomat reports that the Minister’s announcement of another coastal highway comes amid the controversy generated by the construction of the over 700km Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway considering the cost, damages to properties along the route and a litany of other uncompleted projects across the country.
While a host of citizens commended the Federal Government for commencing such big projects many had expressed their reservations about the project.
