Lagos 3rd Mainland Bridge Collapsing- Mark

As the Senate today debates a motion on the imminent collapse of the Lagos Third Mainland Bridge, Senate President David Mark has cautioned that it would be a major catastrophe if the bridge is allowed to collapse. 

The Third Mainland Bridge which measures 11.8km is the longest bridge in the country and connects the Mainland to the Island and was built by Julius Berger Nigeria Plc and commissioned by former military President Ibrahim Babangida in 1990.

The Federal Ministry of Works completed repair works on the bridge in October 2012 after its closure to motorists and commuters for over four months.

At Senate plenary on Wednesday, Gbenga Ashafa, representing Lagos East, raised a point of order to be allowed to bring to the attention of the Senate the imminent collapse of the bridge and would want an urgent remedial measures to be taken.

He told the senators that the consultant who carried out post-assessment of the repair works of the bridge discovered that the work done pertaining to the foundation was not properly done.

Ashafa in his point of order after citing Order 42 on matters of national importance said the consultant after his post-assessment discovered the bridge “could collapse today, tomorrow, next year, five or ten years and therefore there is the urgent need to discuss the imminent collapse”.

Before Mark directed that Ashafa formally presents the motion on the floor this morning, he said “the bridge is an important edifice and its collapse will be a major catastrophe and many lives may be lost”.

The repair of the Third Mainland Bridge before it was re-opened last year was reported to have gulped N1.5 billion which included repairs at eight expansion joints of both sides of the bridge.

Minister of Works, Mike Onolememen, who re-opened the repaired bridge last year, had claimed that the Federal Government had kept faith with the promise that the repair works that commenced on August 10, 2012 would be completed before November 6, 2012.

The Senate after taking and debating the motion this morning is expected to refer the matter to its committee on works headed by Ayogu Eze from Enugu for it to investigate and report back in four weeks.