Lagos, contractor abandon repairs of burnt Festac Link Bridge since December
There are strong indications that Lagos State Government and the contractor handling the repair of burnt section of the FESTAC link bridge may have abandoned the site.
Investigations by Business Hilights Intelligence Unit (BHIU) on Monday showed that residents are getting worried over the observed varnishing of the contractor on site since early February this year.
It would be recalled that no fewer than 20 vehicles and four commercial motorcycles were, on Tuesday, December 12, 2017, a tanker carrying diesel that was ascending the bridge, lost control and just as it attempted rolling back, it hit following vehicles and burst out in flames.
The fire burnt a substantial part of the bridge and a car mart, destroying over 20 new cars on sale at the foot of the bridge.
It was gathered that fire fighters arrived at the scene later but did not have enough water to quench the fire.
However, after the inferno the exit lanes were closed. Then they were opened, then closed, and re- opened and finally closed.
During a drive along the axis on Monday, Business Hilights observed that though some key repair equipment belonging to the contractor (name with held) littered the scene, the lane remained closed and the contractor was not on site. Remnants of burnt cars on sale were still on the car mart.
Some shop owners around who spoke to our correspondent said for more than two months now, the contractor ran away after motorists and residents accosted them and made them to understand that their pace of work is questionable due to slowness.
While the lane remained closed, gridlock has become the order of the day on the remaining lane of the Festac Link Bridge.
The shop owners revealed that upon all the promises made by the state government that the bridge will be repaired in record time, those working at the bridge before they ran away abandoning their materials came with one generator, one electric drill and 4-5 work men.
Efforts to find out when the contractor will return to site from the Ministry of Works failed as no top official is willing to respond to questions on why the job was abandoned going to three months now.
