By LYDIA CHIGOZIE-NGWAKWE

The Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway will be tolled as soon as completed and inaugurated, the Minister of Works, Sen. Dave Umahi, said on Saturday in Lagos.

Umahi made the emphasis during an inspection tour of the project.

“I must emphasise that this road is going to be tolled and by the contractor, it is part of the package.

“l will be inviting the contractor to give us the programme, I don’t want to open this permanently for traffic and then we begin to talk about tolling.

“The contractor has to give us the programme and begin to build infrastructure before the end of April; so, we have to toll this route as soon as we complete it and as soon as it is commissioned,” he said.

On the impact of challenges (following realignment of the highway) on the project budget, the minister said that there would be no room to increase the budget further.

“We have concluded the re-measurements and we are a country with a lot of other issues and we have gone to the Bureau of Public Procurement; so, there is no opening to increase the project further.

“We have a total of N170 billion increments on the project as a result of this and diversion of the projects to save those high-rise buildings at the beginning of the project, the shore protection we encountered and then a lot of refuse dumps that were evacuated – some up to 15 metres deep and stretching over many kilometers.

“Hitech has to be at this risk and that is part of its contribution in building our nation,” he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Hitech Construction Company Ltd. Is the contractor handling the project. (NAN)