By LYDIA CHIGOZIE-NGWAKWE

The Minister of Works, Sen. Dave Umahi, has said that a 50-year-old refuse dump with over 10 metres depth and some infrastructure mitigated against the construction of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway for more than four months.

Umahi disclosed this on Monday during an inspection of the highway project along with some personalities from other political parties on Monday in Lagos.

The personalities include Chief Segun Showunmi, a PDP chieftain, who led some civil society activists to accompany Umahi.

“When we started from Kilometre Zero, we encountered Landmark Beach infrastructure and a number of other properties along the way.

“We decided as a responsible ministry to vary the design of the project.

“The implication is that we left the coast and we came to a new alignment that was not designed for the project,” Umahi said.

Contrary to reports, the Landmark Beach on Lagos Island was never demolished to pave way for the project but the shanties around the main structure.

According to the minister, to save Landmark Beach, the decision resulted in splitting the six lanes of the highway into three lanes.

“In doing that, we have saved all the infrastructure of Landmark Beach.

“We also encountered a refuse dump that had been over 50 years old and had over 10 meters depth and spanned two kilometres.

“When we encountered it, we had to stop the work for more than four months,” Umahi said.

He said that tackling the challenge cost the Federal Government N15 billion.

“I have directed that all the videos and drawings must be exposed because additional works are involved and I want those documentaries to be intact.”

The Managing Director of Hitech Construction Company Ltd., Mr Dany Abboud emphasised that the highway was split at Kilometre 2.7 to avoid demolition of the Landmark Beach and other properties.

“At this particular point, we merged bathe road, the eastbound and the westbound at Kilometre 5, Section 1.

“We had to create a certain kind of deviation. We deviated at Kilometre 2.7 and we converged again at Kilometre 5,” he said.

The managing director also said that the company encountered a lot of waste materials between Kilometre 3 and Kilometre 9.

According to him, the biggest dump sites were at Kilometre 4 and Kilometre 9.

“We had to excavate to a very big depth and replace it with sand,” he said. (NAN)