Minister of Works, David Umahi, has refuted claims regarding the cost of the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project, stating that it will amount to N4 billion per kilometer, not the previously reported N8 billion per kilometer. Umahi clarified this during an interview on Arise Television on Thursday.
The project, spanning from Lagos to Calabar, is estimated to total approximately N2.8 trillion. Umahi dismissed allegations that the procurement process was not followed, asserting that the contract was awarded on a counter-funding basis, not through a Public-Private Partnership as claimed.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar had questioned the transparency of the project’s cost, urging for clarity from the Bola Tinubu administration. Umahi attributed the increasing costs to inflation and disruptions in the construction industry’s supply chain but assured that the Ministry is committed to prudent spending.
The completion timeline for the project is set at eight years, with a four-lane carriageway utilizing concrete pavement. Umahi also clarified that while N1.06 trillion was appropriated, the full amount hadn’t been disbursed.
Umahi emphasized the differences in design between the current project and the previously mentioned one, highlighting the broader scope and additional features of the coastal road. He contrasted the cost calculations between the two designs, concluding that the actual cost per kilometer is N4 billion, significantly lower than Atiku’s estimate.
Regarding the construction process, Umahi clarified that the project was not envisioned under a Public-Private Partnership but rather through an Engineering, Procurement, Construction, and Finance program, similar to the Abuja-Markurdi road project.
Umahi said, “People are just building castles without knowledge and they don’t know figures, I will run the figures for you. We are going to compare the cross-section of the one the former vice president mentioned that was renegotiated for $11.1bn for 700 km.
“So you have to now ask what was there to be constructed. And what was there to be constructed is the only available design from NDDC.
“They had designed the entire 700 km but we are not following exactly that pattern or right of way. We have a different modification. The original design had two carriageways on each side of the road with four lanes.
“And in the middle, they did not provide for the train track. It’s just going to be a water-collecting basin. But the coastal road we are constructing has a total of 10 lanes, you know, not only that it has a total of 10 lanes, it also have what we called shoulders.
“And the total shoulders can be put at about 23 metres. So when you put the total concrete pavement we are doing, it’s about 59 metres. When you put the total flexible pavement that he quoted it’s about 23 metres.
“And so when you run the figures, you now find out that under his calculation, it is giving you about over N19bn per kilometre. Now if you divide it by the 23 kilometres that they are doing, it is about 2.225 times a standard superhighway carriageway, which is N11.55bn.
“Whereas what we are doing, if you divide it, you get N5.167bn, So when you now divide using our 1.067, you get about N4bn/km. If you go back to what he has quoted, you will get over N8bn.
“So using concrete, which should be more expensive because of the kind of terrain we have, and using flexible pavement, which shouldn’t stand the coastal route, you will find out that our cost is N4bn instead of the N8bn claimed by the former vice president.”
On the mode of the construction process, Umahi said government never envisaged the project under a Private Public Partnership arrangement but under an Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Finance programme as currently used on the Abuja- Markurdi road project.
