The Federal Government has renamed the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway as the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu Coastal Highway, with the Minister of Works, David Umahi, saying the decision was taken in recognition of the President’s long-standing vision for the project.
Umahi announced the development on Thursday during a media briefing in Abuja, where he also disclosed that President Bola Tinubu had approved a 400-kilometre extension of the Fourth Legacy Highway and the reconstruction of sections of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
According to the minister, the decision to rename the coastal highway was taken by the Ministry of Works after consultations with the ministry’s leadership.
“That (coastal) highway is named President Bola Ahmed Tinubu Coastal Highway. By the powers conferred on me as Minister of Works, in consultation with my Permanent Secretary, the Minister of State, directors and staff of the ministry, we decided to name it after him because of his dream for it.
“He had that dream about 27 years back as governor of Lagos State. It is one thing to dream and another thing to have the grace of God to actualise that dream,” he said.
Umahi described the first section of the 750-kilometre highway, stretching from Victoria Island to Lekki, as a major infrastructure milestone.
According to him, the 47.47-kilometre six-lane carriageway includes a 25-metre median reserved for a future railway line.
The minister also announced that Tinubu had approved an additional 400 kilometres for the Fourth Legacy Highway, extending the project from 700 kilometres to 1,100 kilometres.
He said the highway, originally designed to link Akwanga in Nasarawa State to Maiduguri in Borno State through Jos, Bauchi, Gombe and Biu, would now extend into Taraba State.
“The greatest story is that yesterday President Bola Tinubu approved the addition of 400 kilometres to our Fourth Legacy Road. That is an 800-kilometre road now extended to 1,100 kilometres, and that is unprecedented,” he said.
He added that the President also approved the dualisation of another 400 kilometres of the East-West Road, the reconstruction of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway using reinforced concrete pavement, the completion of the abandoned Ibi Bridge in Taraba State and the construction of the 5.76-kilometre Lao Bridge.
Umahi said the projects formed part of the Federal Government’s efforts to improve connectivity, stimulate economic activities and modernise critical transport infrastructure across the country.
The PUNCH