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By Maduka Nweke
The Minister of Works, David Umahi, has revealed that provisions for the surveillance of the third mainland bridge to safeguard it against brigands and men of the underworld, has been made.
Speaking during the commissioning of the CCTV Control Centre the Minister of Works Chief David Umahi said that there are provisions for about 1,268 solar street lights. “There are two Hilux vans, 240 solar panels in this environment which though is not enough. The whole place is fully air-conditioned. We have 10 inverters inside the building. We have the powering units. We have a transformer, a 300 KVA transformer. We have a boat that has been bought for surveillance of the bridge,” he said.
The Minister, who commended China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) for a good job done for delivering what he described as quality work, said the Ministry would hand over a surveillance boat and two Hilux vans included in the contract to the Police for monitoring activities on the bridge.
“If they need to incorporate other security agencies, they can do that, but the idea of this project is that we have a lay-by on the bridge, so we view everything going on this bridge,” he said. The Minister expressed concerns over excessive speeding on the bridge and urged motorists to obey traffic laws. The aim according to the Ministry of Works, Dr Dave Umahi is to enhance security, prevent various suicide attempts and increase surveillance and traffic monitoring on the strategic route.
The facility, which was constructed by the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) according to the Minister, inherited severely deteriorated bridge infrastructure when it assumed office in 2023. The Minister instructed the Police and other Security Personnel to monitor footage from the CCTV and enforce speed regulations adding that the current administration met a “very terrible Third Mainland Bridge”.
“When we came on board in 2023, we met a very terrible Third Mainland Bridge, Carter Bridge and Iddo Bridge, both on the pavement, surface, infrastructure above the water and even infrastructure below the water. The president, therefore, directed total re-evaluation and rehabilitation of the surfaces of the Third Mainland Bridge and changing the expansion joints. Lagosians were very happy with the president for that beautiful work, and that work completed and commissioned is still succeeding because of the quality,” he said.
Earlier, Olufemi Dare, Federal Controller of Works in Lagos, remarked that the CCTV Centre is the first of its kind in the country. “I doubt if there is any bridge in Nigeria that has what we have deployed here today, where you have CCTV to monitor both the underwater and even the bridge itself. We have a standby generating plant and monitoring screens,” Dare said.
He thanked President Bola Tinubu for approving the project and commended Umahi for ensuring due process in its execution. “We have about 1,268 solar street lights that are part of this contract,” he said. He added that the project also includes a borehole facility, noting that the project was awarded at the cost of N40.17 billion.
Dare also said the federal government had so far paid N36 billion to the contractor. “This is the first level of commissioning. We are still going to come back here to do even for the extension of the bridge, which is about to be completed. We pray that very sooner than later, we will come back to do a full-blown commissioning,” he said.
