By FLORENCE ONUEGBU

The Lagos State Government says it will fully open the long-awaited Agege Pen-Cinema bridge to vehicular movement by February 2021.

Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, made this known to commuters in the axis, while inspecting the 1.7 km-long bridge on Wednesday.

Sanwo-Olu said that the project was at 90 per cent completion; as all civil works had already been completed on the bridge.

The overpass ascends from Oba Ogunji Road and drops at Oke Koto axis of Agege.

The bridge also opens to the old Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway through Abule Egba.

Sanwo-Olu expressed satisfaction on the quality of work done, saying that the bridge would be fully opened for public use in the next eight weeks.

He said that the only work left on the bridge was turning intersection improvements at the descending part of the bridge and signalisation for ease of traffic movement.

“We have just finished an inspection and a walk through of the Agege Pen-Cinema Bridge. The level of completion of the project is around 90 per cent.

“All the major brick work has been done and we are left with two major deliverables, which include cleaning up the intersection and signalisation.

“There are four synchronised signalisation we are expecting to have and each must work together with the other. We are expecting that all these will be done early next year.

“This is in fulfilment of the promise we made that we will complete all projects abandoned. We are giving the contractor handling this project a maximum of eight weeks to attend to little snags in the project.

“By second week in January, vehicles can move on the bridge but we may need additional four weeks to complete the signalisation, road painting and demarcation,’’ the governor said.

The governor said that the state government looked forward to fully hand over the project sometime in February next year,´´ he said.

Sanwo-Olu said that the state government had started to consider other complementary road construction to be done on the axis to further improve traffic for commuters in the area.

He said that the state was in talks with the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) to take on adjoining arterial roads, with the objective to ease flow of traffic from the bridge down to other areas.

Sanwo-Olu urged the residents to be patient while the contractor puts final touches on the project.

He said that his administration moved to complete the bridge given its strategic importance to easing gridlock and improving economic activities in Agege and adjoining communities.

The governor also urged the residents on the need to keep peace in the area and to protect assets of the government in their neighbourhoods. (NAN)

PHOTO: L-R; Special Adviser to the Governor on Works and Infrastructure, Mrs Aramide Adeyoye; Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu; Deputy Governor, Dr Obafemi Hamzat and Deputy Managing Director, Hitech, Mr Dani Aboud during an inspection of the ongoing construction of the Pen Cinema flyover at Agege, on Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2020.

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