The Oyo State Government said it was not responsible for non-completion of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway project as claimed by Mr Babatunde Fashola, the Minister of Works and Housing.
Dr Wasiu Olatubosun, the Oyo State Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, made the clarifications in a statement on Monday in Ibadan.
Fashola had on Thursday declared that the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway was suffering delay because of the drainage channel being constructed across the road by the Oyo State Government in its Ibadan axis.
The minister made the statement at the inaugural edition of President Muhammadu Buhari’s Administration Scorecard 2015-2023 Series, organised by his Ministry of Information and Culture.
Fashola said that the 127.6 kilometres expressway had recorded a lot of progress, appealing to motorists and commuters to endure the delays being encountered at the Ibadan and Lagos axis, respectively.
“The Oyo State Government is building a drainage channel across the road, so we are having difficulties because the contractor has slowed down and we have to slow down too.
“We do not want to finish the road and come back to destroy it for the drainage channel construction,” he said.
Reacting, Olatunbosun said it was imperative to set records straight as a government committed to ensuring that the good people of Oyo State enjoy the dividends of good governance.
According to him, First, we need to clarify that two major projects, the dualisation of the 8.2 km Agodi-Gate-Old Ife-Adegbayi Junction Road and a few projects under the World Bank assisted Ibadan Urban Flood Management Project (IUFMP) interface with the 127.6 km Lagos-Ibadan Expressway project at CH 115-117, CH 117 and CH 125.
“In real terms, this stretch is less than three kilometres.
“Secondly, we would have expected that the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing would have reached out to us to find out how long we would need to complete the aforementioned projects being that Oyo State has been in communication with the Ministry.
“In fact, just about a year ago, we had requested permission from the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing (through the Director of Federal Highways) to dualise the underpass at CH 115 -117.
“We were advised to make sure that the diversion routes are completed before embarking on the diversion. We complied 100 per cent.
“Also, it is on record that the majority of the 22km stretch of the Lagos-Ibadan Express Road between the old Tollgate Ibadan-Ojoo is still in progress.
“Earthwork between Iwo Road Interchange and Ojoo has only just commenced, while work between the Old Ibadan Tollgate and Onipepeye is still in progress and characterised by road diversions.
“With all these works yet to be done, why is the Federal Minister blaming the Oyo State Government for delaying the project?,” Olatunbosun said.
He said if the Minister had reached out to the state government, they would have told him that though, the contract for work on the dualisation of Agodi-Gate- Old-Ife Road-Adegbayi Junction, including an underpass interface with the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway at Onipepeye, had to be terminated at 60 per cent in September.
According to him, this was due to slow pace of work by the contractor, whose contract was awarded under the previous administration.
He said: “Oyo State Government is in the process of re-awarding the remaining 40 per cent with a February 2023 delivery date.
“We have also provided 500m diversions of the main expressway lanes from the impacted site to allow traffic flow on both sides. Similarly, the IUFMP projects also have four-month completion schedules.”
