The Federal Government on Sunday inaugurated the N40 billion Close Circuit Television Camera Centre for the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos State.

The News Agency of Nigeria reported that the CCTV centre was constructed by the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation.

Speaking during the inauguration, the Minister of Works, Senator Dave Umahi, said the current administration met the Third Mainland Bridge in a deplorable condition upon assuming office in 2023.

“When we came on board in 2023, we met a very terrible Third Mainland Bridge, Carter Bridge and Iddo Bridge, both on the pavement, surface, infrastructure above the water and even infrastructure below the water.

The president, therefore, directed total re-evaluation and rehabilitation of the surfaces of the Third Mainland Bridge and changing the expansion joints.

Lagosians were very happy with the President for that beautiful work, and that work completed and commissioned is still succeeding because of the quality,” he said.

Umahi expressed appreciation to the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation for delivering what he described as a quality job on the project.

He disclosed that the ministry would be handing over a boat and two Hilux vans, which formed part of the project contract, to the Nigeria Police for effective monitoring of the bridge.

“If they need to incorporate other security agencies, they can do that, but the idea of this project is that we have a lay-by on the bridge, so we view everything going on on this bridge.”

The minister also expressed concern over excessive speeding by motorists on the Third Mainland Bridge and urged road users to comply strictly with traffic rules and regulations.

Earlier, the Federal Controller of Works in Lagos State, Mr Olufemi Dare, described the CCTV centre as the first of its kind in Nigeria.

”I doubt if there is any bridge in Nigeria that has what we have deployed here today, where you have CCTV to monitor both the underwater and even the bridge itself.

“We have a boat that has been bought for surveillance of the bridge. There are two Hilux vans, too.

“We have 240 solar panels in this environment, and that is not enough. The whole place is fully air-conditioned. We have 10 inverters inside the building.

We have the powering units. We have a transformer, a 300 KVA transformer. We have a standby generating plant and monitoring screens,” he said.

Dare expressed gratitude to President Bola Tinubu for approving the project and commended Umahi for ensuring that due process was followed throughout the execution of the centre.

“We have about 1268 solar street lights that are part of this contract,” he said.

He added that a borehole was also included as part of the project infrastructure.

Dare disclosed that the total contract sum for the project was N40.17 billion, noting that the Federal Government had so far paid N36 billion to the contractor handling the project.

“This is the first level of commissioning. We are still going to come back here to do even the extension of the bridge, which is about to be completed.

We pray that very sooner than later, we will come back to do a full-blown commissioning.”