2nd Niger Bridge To Be Completed As Planned Without Any Delays
The construction of the 2nd Niger Bridge will be completed in time without any delay due to non-compliance with environmental laws, the Julius Berger-Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) stated.
This statement was signed by the Managing Directors of Julius Berger and the NSIA, Messrs Wolfgang Goetsch and Uche Orji, respectively yesterday in Abuja.
They described as untrue reports that there were plans to abandon the project, which was launched by President Goodluck Jonathan recently.
The statement read: “Julius Berger-NSIA consortium wishes to clarify that reports suggesting that work on the bridge has been suspended due to non-compliance of environmental laws represent inaccurate and misconstrued information.
“Contrary to recent reports, work on the second River Niger Bridge project continue to progress according to schedule, to ensure timely completion of the bridge, which is set to be executed under the Public Private Partnership, PPP, arrangement for a concessional period of 25 years through the Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer, DBFOT, model.
“The consortium also highlights that compliance with Nigerian Environmental Laws continue to be deemed a paramount priority and that Environment Impact Assessment, EIA, is an intrinsic part of the project, which is carried out in compliance with the environmental laws that govern Nigeria and in collaboration with the relevant ministries.”
Cost of the project
The cost of the project was negotiated down from N138,530,896,346.72 to N117,860,700,741.82 (VAT inclusive) and certified by Bureau of Public Procurement, BPP.
Of this amount, the Federal Government will be contributing N30 billion as its equity participation in the project.
It would be recalled that the poor state of the bridge, constructed in 1963, had been a major concern of Nigerians from the South-East as it is the main link between the South-West and South-East, and connects two large cities, Onitsha in Anambra State and Asaba in Delta State, had been in a bad state.
The bridge, which forms part of the Arterial Route A232; Enugu-Onitsha-Asaba-Benin-Shagamu, is 1,590m in length and located 1.7km downstream of the existing bridge on a new alignment.
Source: Legit.ng
