4th Mainland bridge to gulp $2.5bn now ― Lagos govt

Lagos State government has said that construction of the proposed 4th Mainland Bridge, a 38-km stretch, connecting Lagos Island by way of Lekki, Langbasa, and Baiyeku towns and across Lagos Lagoon to Itamaga in Ikorodu, is estimated to cost $2.5billion.

Recall that the state government had in September 2020, announced an estimation of $2.2billion for the construction of the project expected to become the longest bridge in Africa on completion.

Director-General, Office of Public-Private Partnership (PPP), Lagos State, Mr Ope George, made this known during the ongoing ministerial briefing to commemorate the 2nd Year Anniversary of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu led Administration in office, in Alausa, Ikeja.

This was just as George further disclosed that the preferred bidder out of the six under-listed bidders of the proposed $2.5billion transaction worth bridge, an initiative of the Lagos State government, is expected to be determined by October, this year as technical processes were ongoing to eliminate every glitch.

“The state is at a critical point where glitches have been identified and same were being addressed to finalise processes towards the commencement of the $2.5billion transaction worth project,” the commissioner said.

George assured that the state would continue to ensure a friendly environment for private sector engagement to thrive in partnership with the government in efforts towards driving development courses in the state.

Besides, George said other iconic projects also funded under PPP arrangements include the Ilubirin Estate which is a public foreshore housing project being built on reclaimed land in Ikoyi Island, Lagos, at the foot of the third mainland bridge, facing the Lagos Lagoon waterfront.

According to him, “Also on housing, are the development of luxury apartments at GRA Ikeja, to replace the Old Lagos Secretariat with multipurpose apartments on 6,2894 square metres, Sqm, FBT Coral Estate Limited, a PPP arrangement to reclaim a 775,120Sqm of land for the proposed mixed-used development; provisions of cloud infrastructure and web portal for online gathering and registration of real estate agents and transaction— landlord technologies— to regulate the Real Estate sector.

“In addition is the ultra-modern hostel facilities in the Lagos State University which is a PPP arrangement, Design, Build Finance, Operate, Maintain and Transfer with the construction of 16 blocks of 94 rooms each with 376 beds per block, is estimated to cost about N11billion.

“On works also, is the proposed ring road which is expected to provide alternative traffic resources from Lekki to Ikorodu, Ikeja to Ajah, relieving the 3rd Mainland Bridge of its overstretched capacity. It is a 4 lane carriageway cross-sectional road with permission for Bus Rapid Transit, BRT lane and future road construction.

“Also on work is the crescent island toll road project for the reclamation and development of 150 hectares on a proposed 40-year Design, Finance, Build, Operate, and Maintain (DBFOM) arrangement for a toll road project and a link bridge connecting the Mainland to the proposed crescent Island.

“On the power sector is the Imota Power Project which is an independent Power Project for the only Rice Mill currently under construction by the state government.”

Speaking further, George added that other projects on traffic management under PPP arrangement include: JJT Car Park designed to develop a high-level car park arcade at Alausa Secretariat Complex; Truck Traffic Management Solution Infrastructures; Artezia Traffic Violation Management System, among others.

The DG said ongoing projects in the health sector include: the Lagos State Medical Park for development of a medical village on 2.1 hectares of land in Ikoyi; development of a Smart Health Information Platform to connect the entire health ecosystem in Lagos State; Joint Venture Pharmacy and equipping Maternal and Child Centres (MCCs) in the state, including those in Ajah, Alimosho and Eti-Osa local government areas.

He listed the rest to include: The Lagos Bike Share Scheme; outsourcing proposal for the operation and maintenance of the state-owned Tiguar S-410 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV); Establishment of Lagos Aquaculture Centre of Excellence to set up fish farms in clusters to anchor aquaculture growth in Lagos; Eko Token (Lagos Cash Token UCSR); JK Randle Centre for remembrance and reconnection for Yorubas and African people for a vital injection of tourism to Lagos, among others.

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