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Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, has dismissed concerns that the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway could be submerged by flooding, insisting that the road was deliberately designed to withstand rising water levels.
Umahi gave the assurance yesterday while appearing on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, where he also rejected claims that the highway was responsible for flooding in parts of Lagos State.
“The Coastal Highway is not flooded and will never get flooded,” Umahi said.
The minister explained that flooding in communities along the coastal corridor predated the highway project and affected properties on both sides of the road.
According to him, several buildings in the area were constructed decades ago, before climate change and rising flood levels became major concerns.
“When we started the project, you find out a lot of the projects we built, some had lasted for 50 years. The ocean is by the right and then the Lagoon is also by the left,” he said.
Umahi explained that drainage arrangements in the area meant water from properties was channelled towards the lagoon, which eventually connects to the ocean.
He said many of the existing buildings were constructed below what is now considered the flood level.
“Now, when these houses were built, there was nothing like climate change, so they were built below the flood level,” he said.
According to the minister, studies carried out before construction showed that the highway needed to be raised above the existing flood level.
“And so when we now did our study, we found out that we needed to raise the coastal highway above the flood level and we must not put it at the level of existing premises and that is what happened. So, we raised the road above the flood level,” Umahi said.
He also argued that flooding on both sides of the coastal corridor indicated that the highway was not responsible for the problem.
“You should ask yourself since the ocean is by the right and the lagoon by the right, both left and right of the premises within the coastal corridor are all flooded and so it has nothing to do with the coastal highway,” he said.
Umahi attributed the rising flood levels to global warming and climate change, noting that many properties along the corridor were built when the environmental conditions were different.
He further questioned whether the effects of climate change and unusual flooding could be ignored.
“At the Coastal Way corridor, the premises we built below at expected flood level occasioned by global warming, the climate change. Do you accept there is this issue of global warming? Do you accept there is a climate change? Do you accept that there is unusual flooding all over the country?” he asked.
Umahi maintained that the coastal highway had been constructed above the flood level and was not responsible for flooding in the surrounding areas.
“The Coastal Highway is a beauty to behold; it has nothing to do with the flooding,” he said.
