New Telegraph

Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, our nightmare –Motorists, residents

Residents and motorists plying Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway have bitter tales to tell over the deplorable state of the road.
Since the beginning of the rains in June 2020, the residents and motorists said they had been groaning under the sorry state of the road, adding that the expressway had grown from bad to worse.

A motorist, Emma Johnson, whose Toyota Camry car was trapped in one of the big ditches on the expressway around Kola bus stop, said yesterday it was a pity that motorists have to go through this harrowing experience on a daily basis without response from the government.

Johnson added that the expressway had gone so bad and covered with storm water to the extent that pedestrians and commuters would not even know where to pass.
Another motorist, Babajide Olusegun, told New Telegraph that the Federal Government should declare a state of emergency on the road.
He said: “As you can see, the road is in a deplorable state from Kola bus stop, Agbado, Toll Gate to Sangotedo bridge.”
Olusegun said he spent not less than 40 minutes navigating the bad portions of the expressway yesterday.
He called on both the Lagos State government and the Federal Government to come to the aid of motorists and residents by ordering Julius Berger to do some palliative work on the expressway immediately.

Decrying the sorry state of the road, a commuter, who identified himself simply as Fash, said the road grew worse because the Federal Government refused to fund Julius Berger to rehabilitate the entire stretch of the expressway as promised.
He said: “By now, Julius Berger would have delivered the road’s reconstruction project, but there is funding issue.”
Fash noted that the road had gone bad from Agbado to Sango and Ifo in Ogun State.

He noted that around Sango to Ifo where Julius Berger had been working, the construction work was slow.
New Telegraph was told that for motorists going to Ota and Ifo in Ogun State, their best bet is the alternative route from Ipaja to Ayetoro Road. It is an inner road constructed by both Lagos and Ogun states.

The Federal Controller of Works, Lagos, Mr. Kayode Popoola, neither picked his calls nor responded to an SMS and WhatsApp message sent to his mobile line to comment on the deplorable state of the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway.
The Federal Government had in 2018 flagged off the rehabilitation of Lagos-Ota-Abeokuta Expressway to fasten socio-economic growth and international trade within Ogun and Lagos corridors.
The rehabilitation and reconstruction of the about 80-kilometre road was awarded by the Federal Government to Julius Berger Plc at the cost of N22.38 billion.
However, two years after the flagg off of the road reconstruction, the expressway has become a nightmare to road users.

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