Succour s.eems to be on the way for motorists and commuters plying the ever-busy Lagos-Ota-Abeokuta Expressway, as the contracting firm, Craneburg, has moved to site to begin the reconstruction of the all-important road.
The flag-off/turning of the sod for the reconstruction would take place on Friday, 23 August.
It would be performed by the governor of Ogun State, Prince Dapo Abiodun.
Cranebourg started mobilizing its equipment to site 10 days ago to begin palliative measures in an attempt to make one lane of the road motorable, while construction proper begins on the other lane.
The palliative measures already completed on the road covered Sango-Ota, Pakoto, Ifo, Ewekoro, Itori, and Obada, with stone base spread on the bad portions to make traveling less stressful for motorists and commuters, while the reconstruction is ongoing.
The Federal Government-owned road has been in a deplorable state for more than 20 years, before it was finally handed over to the state government this year by the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration after previous efforts had proved abortive.
Governor Abiodun emphasized that bureaucratic bottlenecks stalled the reconstruction of the road before now.
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.
He averred that with President Tinubu, the Federal Government was approached again for the transfer of the road to the state, a request that was granted.
He said, “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.
“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 road had been awarded since May this year.”
