Minister of Works, Engr. David Umahi has begun nationwide engagement with over 13 Governors in whose domains the over 1622km proposed superhighway crisscrossed.
Other stakeholders tapped for engagement on the proposed alignment of the projects are National Assembly members, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Telecommunications operators, traditional rulers, and the media.
The proposed highway road infrastructure now commonly referred to as President Bola Tinubu’s three legacy projects run into trillions of naira.
The Lagos-Calabar corridor is proposed to gulp over N15 trillion. Minister Umahi disclosed this.
In a press statement, on Friday, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Works, Dr. Yakubu Kofarmata, said the first engagement would start from Uyo, Akwa Ibom State on Saturday, June 29, 2024 and would end in Calabar, Cross River State on Sunday 30.
According to him, the various engagements which had been slated to hold nationwide would address all issues around the proposed alignment for the construction of Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway (LCCH): 38km section 3A in Cross River State, 27km section 3B and 80km section 4 in Akwa Ibom State as well as the design of the Cross River 92km segment of Calabar-South East-North Central-Apo (Abuja) Superhighway by African Trans Sahara highway.
The other dates slated for the engagement are: July 3, in Kebbi, Kebbi State, Ilorin in Kwara State and Lagos, July 15 in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State while the date for that of North Central slated for Lokoja in Kogi, has not been decided.
In a related development, while corroborating the Permanent Secretary, the Minister’s Spokesperson, Barr. Orji Uchenna Orji, in a statement said following President Tinubu’s approval for the commencement of the national road infrastructure network that would traverse the country which aligned with the Renewed Hope strategic economic recovery plans, the Minister had commenced nationwide stakeholders engagement for the construction of sections of the three (3) Renewed Hope Legacy Road Infrastructure projects.
He said the Minister would on Saturday, 29th, and Sunday 30th June 2024 hold this session of the stakeholders’ engagement in Akwa Ibom and Cross-River States, respectively.
In Akwa Ibom, according to him, Minister Umahi was expected to present and discuss the proposed alignment for the construction of Sections 3B and 4 of LCCH project passing through the State and in Cross River State, he would present and discuss section 3A of Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and 92 km segment of the Calabar-South East-North Central-Apo Abuja Superhighway passing through the state.
He said stakeholders expected in the event included Governors of concerned States, Senate and Federal House of Representatives Committees on Works, Ministers of line Ministries, Royal fathers and technocrats, Nigerian Communications Commission and major Telecommunication Service Providers, other relevant stakeholders and the Media.
The Senate President, Mr. Godswill Akpabio, is expected to be the Special Guest at the event.
The state governors in the three corridors include: Lagos, Cross River, Akwa-Ibom, Enugu, Sokoto, Kebbi, Ogun, Kogi, Ebonyi, Katsina, Kwara, Oyo, Ogun and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
According to him, the three renewed hope legacy road infrastructure projects when completed would have historic national interconnectivity that would crisscross the major transportation routes of Northern and Southern States of Nigeria and that is the Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway (SBS): “A 1,000-kilometer highway connecting Sokoto in Northern Nigeria to Badagry in Western Nigeria, passing through 7 States and connecting to the Lagos-Calabar coastal (LCCH) highway at Ahmadu Bello way Lagos; Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.
“A 700-kilometer coastal highway connecting from Lagos State to Cross River State through 8 States; and the Calabar-South East-North Central-Apo Abuja 477-kilometer Superhighway connecting from Calabar to Ebonyi, Benue, Kogi, Nasarawa States and ending at Apo in Abuja,” he stated.
The stakeholders’ meeting, Orji said, would give opportunities to communities on the routes and trade corridors to appreciate the potential of the project to the enhancement of industrialization, tourism, agricultural commercialization and mechanization, trade and investment, and economic competitiveness not only among the people of the area, but also the various regions of Nigeria, and thus stimulate national prosperity.
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