Hitech Construction Company Ltd , a firm owned by the President of Nigeria, Ahmed Bola Tinubu, has been awarded the multi-billion Lagos-Calabar Coastal superhighway contract.
An indication to this emerged last week after the Federal Executive Council, FEC, approved over N1 trillion for the first phase of the project.
The Minister of Works, Dave Umahi announced this after the FEC meeting in Abuja.
“Today, we had the the approval of FEC for the construction of 700 kilometer of coastal routes running from Lagos through the nine coastal routes or states up to Cross River, meaning that it goes to Lagos, the Lekki Deep Seaport, Ogun state, Ondo State, Delta, Bayelsa, Port Harcourt and Akwa Ibom,” the minister said.
According to him, “we have procured the first section, which is 47.47 kilometers, under 10 lanes and FEC graciously approved the contract for N1.067 trillion with no objection.”
The road contract expected to link most Nigerian coastal states in the country with Abuja, the nation’s capital was conceived by Umahi last year.
The federal government has since approved the ambitious project by putting in place modalities for its execution. The project, the minister said is expected to be completed within five years.
The magazine has learnt that Hitech, the road construction firm that got the contract to execute the project is linked to Tinubu who has substantial interest in the company.
The company was believed to have been set up by Tinubu while he was the Lagos state governor.
Under him as the governor of the state, the firm was said to have handled road contracts running into several billions.
After leaving office, Tinubu’s successors also awarded mouth-watering contracts to the firm to construct roads and other projects within the state.
The company only ran into problem with Governor Akinwumi Ambode during his feud with Tinubu in his quest to return to office in the run off to the 2023 governorship election in the state.
Governor Ambode had stopped paying the company for the contracts awarded due to the struggle for power in the state All Progressives Congress, APC.
For instance, key construction projects such as the Airport Road and Pen Cinema Bridge were brought to a halt as the feud between the two leaders persisted with the governor refusing to pay over N20 billion owed the firm.
In his piece earlier in the week, Temitope Ajayi, Senior Special Assistant to President Tinubu on Media & Publicity said the Superhighway “will be a monumental civil engineering project that Nigeria has ever seen.
Ajayi outlined the benefits of the superhighway to Nigerians, saying it would be a game changer in the history of construction in the country.
According to the president’s aide, “The superhighway is being built by Hitech Construction Company. Part of the funding will be sourced by Hitech, the contractors.
“Starting from Ahmadu Bello Way, Victoria Island in Lagos, the Coastal road will pass through Lekki Deep Seaport, Ogun, Ondo, Delta, Bayelsa, Cross River and Akwa-Ibom States. At a recent press briefing, Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, said the Coastal road would have two spurs that will link up with Northern Nigeria to further integrate the North and South in terms of movement of the people, goods and services.
“One of the fascinating and interesting features of the coastal road is how it will compress the distance between Lagos and Ondo State. For instance, the distance from Ibeju-Lekki in Lagos to Araromi in Ondo State is about 50 kilometres along the coast. This distance translates to about an hour journey.
“From Araromi to Ore, a major connecting hub in Ondo State is about another 50 kilometres, whereas the existing route from Ibeju-Lekki to Ore currently in use by motorists is 150 kilometres,” he said.
