Lagos-Calabar highway has no single engineering design – Umahi

The Minister of Works, David Umahi, has disclosed that the 750-kilometre Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway has no single engineering design, more than two years after construction began in March 2024, insisting that the project is being designed and costed section by section.

Umahi, who spoke during a one-hour-30-minute interview on Arise Television monitored by our correspondent on Friday, said there was no comprehensive engineering design covering the entire highway, which the Federal Government has presented as one of President Bola Tinubu’s flagship infrastructure projects.

The disclosure comes amid persistent questions over the project’s overall cost, construction process, environmental approvals and the government’s capacity to complete the highway.

Defending the cost of the first section, the minister said a standard carriageway comprising two lanes would cost about $5.5m per kilometre (N7.3bn), based on his comparison with a coastal highway project in neighbouring Benin Republic.

He, however, challenged the use of an estimated average cost to calculate the cost of the entire 750km highway, arguing that the terrain, bridges and engineering requirements differed across sections.

“There is no single design of any road project that came out, you know, in reality, at the end of the project, the way it was designed,” Umahi said.

Asked directly whether there was an engineering design covering the entire Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, he replied, “So these are the procedures. So there is no one single design that the 750 kilometres of Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway is holding. There’s no one single design.”

The minister said the highway had been conceived as far back as 1955, while the concept was gazetted in 2006. However, he maintained that he had not found a complete engineering design, subsoil investigation or other detailed technical documents covering the entire route in the ministry’s archives.

According to him, engineering designs are developed for individual sections after environmental assessments and soil investigations establish the route, terrain and technical requirements.

Umahi said the Federal Executive Council-approved procurement arrangement required the project to be procured section by section, adding that the approach made it inappropriate to multiply an estimated average cost by the entire 750km.

“Who fixed this N15tn that people are just, you know, brandishing everywhere? Who fixed it? And let me also clarify that nobody has the right to do an average cost and multiply by 750,” he said.

However, the absence of a single design and a comprehensive project cost raises questions about how the government intends to establish the total financial commitment, assess the highway’s overall value and communicate its completion cost to Nigerians.

Explaining his cost comparison, Umahi referred to a 47km section of the highway and a 47.47km coastal road in Benin Republic, which he said cost N1.06tn. He cited a figure of about N7.5bn per kilometre for a three-carriageway configuration and adjusted it to estimate the cost of a standard two-lane carriageway.

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The minister put the adjusted cost at approximately $5.5m per kilometre, based on an exchange rate of N1,330 to the dollar.

He said differences in road configuration and project specifications must be considered before comparing the costs of the two projects.

On environmental approvals, Umahi confirmed that construction began after the ministry obtained a provisional Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) certificate, explaining that a final certificate would follow as the project progressed and outstanding requirements were addressed.

“Every project has provisional ESIA,” he said, adding that environmental issues, resettlement and other associated programmes were considered during implementation.

He maintained that environmental assessments were being handled section by section rather than through a single assessment covering the entire 750km route. He also said the ministry had obtained final environmental approval for the first 47km section.

The highway has attracted criticism over its cost, route and environmental implications since work commenced. The government has defended it as a major transport corridor intended to improve connectivity along Nigeria’s coastline.

Umahi also clarified remarks about an additional 400km linked to the project, following questions about whether Tinubu had ordered a diversion from the original route.

The minister said the additional stretch involved connecting the coastal highway to the existing East-West Road through Edo State, rather than abandoning the original alignment.

“The alignment is intact,” he said, insisting that Edo remained part of the route involving Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross River states.

He acknowledged that describing the connection as a diversion was inaccurate, explaining that the intention was to provide a spur linking the highway to the East-West Road.

“It’s to also put a spur. The word divert, if I used that then it’s a slip of the tongue. We are talking about the connection of the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway, we are connecting it also to have a spur on the East-West Road,” Umahi said.

He added that the connection would provide an alternative route and support the reconstruction of the East-West Road, parts of which he said had deteriorated and fallen below flood levels.

The minister said design work on the connection was ongoing, maintaining that it should not be confused with the original 750km coastal highway.