Pains on Ayobo-Ipaja Road to end in November’

The slow pace of work on the reconstruction of Ayobo-Ipaja Road project, awarded by Lagos State to Plycon Construction Company, an indigenous construction firm, has become a source of worry to road users and residents of Ayobo and Igbo-Ilogbo, in Ipaja-Ayobo Local Council Development Area, LCDA. The road links over 10 communities in the area in Alimosho Local Government Area.

However,  respite is on the way for road users in the area as government gave its commitment to deliver the project in November.


…Ayobo-Ipaja road
Lagos State Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Dr Femi Hamzat, assured residents of  government commitment to delivering a standard road at the end of the day “as the situation has attracted the attention of Governor Babatunde Fashola who is interested in early completion of the project”.

Fashola, actually, paid an unscheduled inspection visit to the project site and gave an ultimatum to the contractor to deliver.

Last weekend, the contractor mobilised more personnel and equipment to the site in apparent response to the executive order even amid the rains.

The Project Manager, Mr. Leke Adeniji, while speaking to Sunday Vanguard, and assuring the project would be completed by the new deadline, explained some of the challenges of the road construction project thus: “This month represents the 18 months of construction of the road project. We have completed 60 percent of the median, 90 percent of the drains and 65 percent of the walkways. From this section of the road, Ipaja Road, what we will be doing next is the paving work”.

According to him, the major challenge they had on the project was the terrain of the community. “Most incredibly is the amount of rainfall experienced yearly in the community.  The rain posed a serious challenge for road construction.. From Baruwa to Megida Bus stop, we have completed 90 percent of the drains which represent the most challenging aspect of the project.

“What we are doing now is to raise the carriage way up to the required level before we commence the grading of the surface. We have been able to more or less complete that. And we have opened the section of the road, from Ayobo to Megida Bus stop. However, from this section of the road-Oluwaga, to Megida Bus stop, this is where we have a Herculean task. It required utmost concentration”, he stated.

Adeniji was optimistic that by November, the project would be completed.  “By then, we would have had six months over run of the project which was earlier scheduled to finish within 18 months. But given the challenges we have faced on this project, we do not think that it is an extra-ordinary amount of additional time to take on the project.

“We believe that by the end of July, we would have covered substantial percent of the paving work but between July and November, we will be tiding up certain things. For instance, on the Moshalasi end, there is no any drainage work for us to do on this portion of the road. But we have to resurface the area and we are certainly not going to do that when it is raining. We will wait till September to do the milling down and resurfacing of that area.



Vanguard