The Minister of Works, Senator Dave Umahi, has said that the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway is already serving its intended purpose as the Federal Government intensifies efforts to complete Section One of the project.

Umahi made the remark on Saturday during an inspection tour of the highway.

“I am very eager to see how we can fully complete this Section One by April this year, so that we can have it fully commissioned – a stretch of Section One and a significant part of Section Two,” he said.

The minister stated that despite the challenges confronting the project, the contractor handling it, Hitech Construction Company Ltd., was performing creditably and remained determined to meet the set deadlines.

“We are terribly being challenged because of the realignment that we have encountered.

‎”What we are witnessing in Kilometre 34 has nothing to compare with what we had in Kilometre 20, where we had a pit of over 25 metres deep, and Hitech was able to remove them and then loaded them with lumps and sharp sand.

“I continue to thank Hitech. Lagosians and other Nigerians have been enjoying the road, and I have seen the reason behind the dreams of over 27 years,” Umahi said.

The minister added that he would personally inspect the project every month to ensure that the President would be able to inaugurate it fully by the end of April.

According to Umahi, President Bola Tinubu may also inaugurate about 50 per cent of Section Two of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project in April.

“We have not been here since we temporarily opened it for traffic and we are very happy that the coastal road is serving ‎its purpose.

‎I am very happy with what I have seen out of the 47.47 kilometres, excluding the bridges, which is part of Section Two,” he said.

Earlier, the Federal Controller of Works in Lagos State, Mr Olufemi Dare, briefed the minister on the progress of work and the challenges being encountered by the contractor at Channaige 34.

“We encountered another very deep swampy area here as we can see. We have dredged here and there from 34 to 37, 38,” he said.

Dare, however, noted that Hitech Construction Company Ltd. was effectively managing the situation.

“The dredging operation is ongoing in order to fast-track the process, and whenever we finalise and we push the sand on top of water level, we are continuing with sharp sand as well as stone base.”