The planned partial closure of the Third Mainland Bridge, scheduled for today, Sunday, July 1, 2012, has been temporarily suspended.
The Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, Kayode Opeifa, in a phone conversation, downplayed the suspension of repair works on the bridge, but however, admitted that the bridge had not yet been closed.
He said that the Federal Ministry of Works had “communicated to them (state) that a few things still needed to be resolved.”
On when the bridge will be closed for repairs, Opeifa said, “when they (the federal ministry of works) are ready, they will tell us when repair work will start.”
Opeifa however, did not disclose the cause of the delay, adding that, “the contractors are ready, everything is ready, it’s just for them (federal ministry of works) to conclude on a few things.”
The Federal Controller of Works for Lagos, Oluwatoyin Obikoya, said he did not have enough detail to comment on the issue.
He said the Director of Federal Highway Services, was better placed to do that.
However, efforts to reach the Director were unsuccessful, as he did not respond to calls made to his mobile phone.
It will be recalled that the bridge, which is the longest of three bridges connecting Lagos Mainland to the Island, was due for a four-month partial closure starting today, to allow for the fixing of eight defective expansion joints.
Source:Daily Times