Julius Berger Hands Over Second Niger Bridge To FG

The Federal Government has officially taken over the second Niger bridge, completed by contractor, Julius Berger.

This comes seven months after its inauguration by the previous administration.

The Minister of Works, David Umahi, expressed satisfaction with the work after an inspection tour conducted by Lars Richter, Managing Director of Julius Berger.

Umahi praised both the previous and current administrations for their efforts in bringing the project to completion.

Describing the completed bridge as “impeccable, very beautiful, and well completed,” Umahi acknowledged the high quality of the construction.

He also mentioned addressing the lighting issue on the bridge, with plans to ensure permanent lighting, particularly at night.

Umahi said, “What we have agreed to do is deploy a solar solution in the coming weeks so that every night we don’t have to run diesel.

“The roads are going to be completed when we have completed the two interchanges; one is taking us off from Asaba town to cut off the traffic, and the other is going to be done by Reynolds Construction Company (RCC) Ltd. to avoid Onitsha town and take you straight to Obosi.

“President Ahmed Tinubu is very committed to the project, and we are going to acquire more so that we can build service stations, filling stations, restaurants, supermarkets, and other facilities as we see in the Western world.

“We are determined to do that; the need to do this with the interchanges is going to be a brilliant one so that over the years we can have a beautiful and maintained road.”

The minister further assured security with the bridge by providing Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras and some security personnel so that one could get security assistance within five minutes.

The Managing Director of Julius Berger, Lars Richter, earlier said that the event was a technical handover after the project was inaugurated by the former administration.

Richter said that work was completed on time, and Julius Berger delivered the highest quality of work.

The Director of Bridges Design and Construction, South, Federal Ministry of Works, Bede Obioha, while speaking tasked the residents around the second Niger bridge to help secure the already installed facilities and those that are yet to be installed.

Bede commended the staff of his ministry and the contractors for a job well done and urged the road users and the residents to abide by the rules of the road.