LATEST: OGUN GOVT SET TO BEGIN RECONSTRUCTION WORK ON LAGOS-OTA-ABEOKUTA EXPRESSWAY

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Succour is on the way for residents and motorists plying the ever busy Lagos-Ota-Abeokuta Expressway as the contracting firm, Craneburg, has moved to site to begin the reconstruction of the 81km road which has been abandoned and in a state of disrepair for years.

The flag-off/turning of the sod for the reconstruction is expected to take place on Friday, 23 August. It will be performed by the Governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun.

Craneburg started mobilizing its equipment to the site 10 days ago to begin palliative measures in an attempt to make one side of the road motorable, while proper reconstruction begins on the other section.

The palliative measures already completed on the road covered Sango-Ota, Pakoto, Ifo, Ewekoro, Itori, and Obada, with stone bases spread on the bad portions to make traveling less stressful while the reconstruction is ongoing.

The 81km expressway is Federal Government-owned and has been in a deplorable state for more than 20 years.

It was finally handed over to the state government this year by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration after previous efforts under the immediate past president Muhammadu Buhari failed

Governor Abiodun had expressed frustration saying that bureaucratic bottlenecks stalled the reconstruction of the road.

While recalling the efforts by the Ogun and Lagos state governments to take over and reconstruct the expressway, Abiodun said he and his Lagos State counterpart were frustrated by delays from the Federal Government

According to the Governor, with President Tinubu, the Federal Government was approached again for the transfer of the road to the state, a request that was granted.

“The Abeokuta-Ota-Lagos road is a Federal Government road and has been in very bad shape for long, because of the suffering our people endure on the road, my counterpart in Lagos and I jointly wrote a letter using a single letterhead to the federal executive council, seeking the transfer of that road for us to reconstruct,” he said.

“After waiting for a month without a reply, we wrote a reminder that road was not handed over to us until the present Federal Government came on board.

“The contract for the reconstruction of the road had been awarded since May this year.”