The second Niger Bridge and toll stations on the bridge have been handed over to the Federal Government by the contractor, Julius Berger following their completion.
The Minister of Works, Sen Dave Umahi received the completed projects on Sunday, December 3, 2023.
Umahi inspected some federal roads under construction in South East by President Bola Tinubu including 61.15km Enugu – Port Harcourt Expressway Section III Enugu – Lokpanta road, the collapsed Artisan flyover on Enugu/Port-Harcourt road and other projects before the handing over expressed satisfaction with the quality of work done by the contractor, Julius Berger.
He said “We are here to take over the completed works of Julius Berger on the 2nd Niger Bridge and the access roads. We are satisfied with the work they have completed under the administration of President Bola Tinubu.
“We thank the immediate past President, Muhammadu Buhari for doing quite a lot to bring this project to function and of course my predecessor, Babatunde Fashola.
“The job is impeccably very beautiful and well completed. This project was jointly supervised by the NSIA and the Ministry of Works and is under PIDF funding mechanism by the federal government”
The Managing Director of Julius Berger, Nigeria, Dr. Lars Richter said the company got the projects in 2017 while it was inaugurated on the middle of this year.
He noted that the projects were delivered to the best quality.
“After a couple of years of construction, we are here today to hand over the entire River Niger Bridge including the toll stations with the facilities to the client completed within time.
“We got the main contract in 2017. In the middle of the year 2023, the bridge was commissioned by the previous administration and today is the technical handover to the new administration.
“It was delivered to the best quality and the federal government is satisfied with the projects.
“From tomorrow, we can now say that the project is the project of the Federal Ministry of Works and I am delighted to handover the project to the client”, he stated.
Obiora Bede, Director Bridge Design and construction, Federal Ministry of Works opined that the contractor and staff of the ministry worked assiduously to ensure that the project was completed.
He expressed the hope that the public will complement the effort of federal government by abiding by the rules of the road.
“We thank the federal government under the able leadership of the Minister of Works, Sen. Dave Umahi who has worked assiduously to ensure that this project which for a long time felt like a dream, came to a reality.
“Both the staff of the Ministry and the contractor worked well with the contractor and here we are today at a finished project.
“We do hope that the public will complement this homologous expenditure by abiding by the rules of the road and that people around too will help us to ensure that the facilities already installed and those to be installed are kept safe”, Obiora stated.
