Ogun govt says gridlock at Kara to end Sunday, as commuters groan at pace of work

The governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun, on Saturday, said that he had obtained a guarantee from the contractors working on the Kara end of the Lagos-Ibadan motorway that the section of road will be finished and accessible to traffic by Sunday, April 30, 2023, at the latest.

Abiodun revealed that he obtained the contractor’s promise on Friday through the Federal Comptroller of Works after conducting an on-the-spot analysis of the root cause of the ongoing traffic congestion that had been upsetting the public.

He said, “On Friday, I stopped at Kara and made a piece of my mind known to the contractor handling the Kara end of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, my stopping there was with respect to the very poor traffic management and the resulting traffic gridlock subjecting innocent travellers to untold hardship.

“I am glad to note that I was able to extract from the firm handling the construction of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway through the Federal Comptroller of Works a commitment to complete the construction causing the bottleneck on or before Sunday 30th April and open the road to allow free flow of traffic both outbound and inbound Lagos.”

However, Abiodun expressed confidence that the contracting company’s commitment would go a long way towards ensuring that the ongoing gridlock that affects drivers on the Lagos-Ibadan motorway is a thing of the past.

He advised motorists to exercise a little bit of patience with the administration as the road was soon to be opened to vehicles.

Former President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan officially opened the road in 2013 at a cost of N167 billion and under a contract with Reynolds Construction Company Limited and Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, respectively.

Read Also:Lagos govt directs early closure of filling stations to curb traffic gridlocks

The road was expected to be commissioned before the end of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Earlier in March, the Lagos State Government said it is reviewing its traffic management plan to address the traffic jam at the Kara-Berger section of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

The state Commissioner for Transportation, Dr Frederic Oladeinde, at a meeting with relevant stakeholders, said the review was necessary because of the inadequacy of the existing plan.

Oladeinde said the state was collaborating with the Federal Government to resolve the issue.

“The plan is being worked on in collaboration with the Federal Road Safety Corps, the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority and the Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps to ensure an improved adequate and effective traffic management during the remaining period of the repair works to minimise motorists’ inconvenience,” Oladeinde said.

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