The Second Niger Bridge has reached 95 percent completion and will be ready for use by the beginning of 2024.

Seyi Martins, acting controller of works in Anambra and engineers’ representative on the project, said this when he received members of the Council for Regulation of Engineering in  Nigeria, COREN, at the site.

Mr Martins said the first phase of the project, which was the bridge proper, was substantially completed and that what was left was the final asphalt surfacing on the Asaba bound carriageway lane.

He said the asphalt wearing course had been fully laid on Onitsha bound carriageway lane and that every other thing about the bridge, including the streetlights, the handrails, the parapet wall had been completed.

Martins said the bridge, which was about 1.7km parallel to the existing bridge, was a dual carriageway with three lanes on both sides measuring about 1.6km in length while total length of the project was 11.9km.

“The bridge project is 95 percent complete and it is expected to be delivered by the end of December 2022 but there is a second phase which is a 3.3km road approach on the Delta side and 7km of approach road on the Anambra side that is yet to commence.

“At the Onitsha end, there is an interchange at Oba, where you can access the bridge and on the Asaba end, there is a link road we are constructing to enable travelers access the bridge from Benin-Onitsha road,” he said.

On his part, Victor Meju, chairman of COREN in Anambra, expressed satisfaction with the quality of work done so far and the use of indigenous engineers in the execution of the project.

Source: NAN