The federal government is planning to deploy robotic machines for underwater inspection of bridges nationwide, the Minister of Works, Sen. Dave Umahi, announced on Sunday.
At a stakeholders’ engagement on Section 2 of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project, Umahi said that the move was to reduce the cost of hiring divers for underwater assessments.
He said: “We are going to locate a robotic kind of machine that will be able to do the diving to allow us to see everything happening under the water in all our bridges.”
According to him, hiring divers to go under the water to check what is happening inside is causing a lot of money.
He said that the Managing Director of HITECH Construction Company, Danny Abboud, would help to ‘locate that mission and then we would like to buy it’.
Umahi also declared a “bridge emergency” to assess the condition of bridges, particularly those constructed 53 years ago, across the country.
He announced that President Bola Tinubu would inaugurate several projects starting from May 1.
He added that more projects would be inaugurated by December.
The minister reiterated that the Federal Executive Council had issued a directive prohibiting dredging within a 10km radius of any bridge nationwide.
This, he said, followed reports of dredging activities near the Third Mainland Bridge which, Julius Berger warned, could lead to the bridge’s collapse.
He emphasised the importance of safeguarding the bridges’ structural integrity. Umahi called for collaboration with the Nigerian Navy for patrol on waterway and prevent illegal sand filling and dredging near bridges.
The minister, who said that the temporary repair work on Independence Bridge in Lagos State was proving to be a permanent solution, gave the assurance that the bridge’s stability was being closely monitored.
Umahi also expressed concerns about the misuse of bridges, particularly Eko and Carter bridges, and appealed to Lagos residents for cooperation in safeguarding the infrastructure.
He expressed dismay at the presence of trailers and buses loading on Carter Bridge as well as the use of Independence Bridge as a fish market, with vehicles parking on it to buy fish.
For the umpteenth time, the minister said the construction of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway did not result in the destruction of $250m investment.
This is just as he said opposition to the project was borne out of envy and jealousy of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, saying this is not just a road construction but an investment.
He further disclosed that due to the directive of the president to save the submarine cables belonging to telecom companies, in Oko Ajah community, over 7,500 houses were saved.
Samson Agbato of Samson Agbato Consulting who led the enumeration team for the Section II of the project spanning from 47.5km to 104km, disclosed that the total compensation was valued at N4.7bn. He reiterated that no $250m investment was touched.
He also disclosed that the government would be constructing a flyover to bypass Dangote Refinery, Dangote Fertiliser plant and other conflict points in the highway corridor.
(Daily Trust)
