Independent Media and Policy Initiative (IMPI) has faulted the claim by a former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, that the proposed Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project was contracted in breach of laid down rules and regulations.
IMPI spoke just as Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) expressed its support for the construction of the 700 km coastal highway, saying the road is a good initiative coming with a lot of economic benefits, such as creating jobs and boosting trade.
IMPI said there were enough proof to support Federal Government’s choice of Hitech to construct the highway.
Chaired by Mr Niyi Akinsiju, the think-tank, in a statement in Abuja, yesterday, said findings indicated all the claims by Atiku were off the mark and targeted at discrediting the project.
It added that aside from successfully handling the Bar Beach Shoreline protection, Hitech had a history of constructing coastal highways with reinforced concrete outside of Nigeria.
The policy group also insisted that a cost analysis of road projects similar to the Lagos-Calabar highway in some parts of the world showed the costing of the project was appropriate.
The group said the Federal Government deserved commendation for reducing the cost of the project to N4.329 billion per km from the N8.52 billion/km in the initial design for a four-lane Lagos-Calabar highway by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
In its comment, MOSOP) described the proposed coastal highway as a good initiative that would come with economic benefits, such as jobs and trade.
It also described the project as a critical infrastructure for national development that would link the coastal states of Ogun, Ondo, Delta, Edo, Bayelsa, Rivers, and Akwa Ibom before reaching its final destination in Cross River.
MOSOP President, Fegalo Nsuke, in a statement made available to The Guardian, said the initiative would enhance communication, support the distribution chain and safer roads through increased economic activities, engendered by the road network in the South South region.
Nsuke urged the Federal Government to pay greater attention to the railway system, being a cheaper means of transportation and maintain existing road networks nationwide to reduce and possibly mitigate the bad-roads-induced losses.
