Minister of Works David Umahi has disclosed that the federal government has agreed with relevant stakeholders to demolish the Carter Bridge in Lagos State and construct a new one.

Mr Umahi, while inspecting the bridge’s underdeck on Wednesday, told journalists that the decision was made in agreement with stakeholders.

“For the Carter Bridge, the decision of all stakeholders is that we have to do away with the Carter Bridge, but for how long shall we stop using the Carter Bridge? Until we come back to re-examine the previous underwater investigation that was done,” he stated.

The minister said the bridge’s present state is beyond repair and that consideration is being made on what can be done to salvage the situation, pending the construction of a new one.

Mr Umahi said, “We had insisted that the situation of Carter Bridge is so critical, and it seems that all stakeholders have agreed that Carter Bridge is irredeemable. What we did today is to see whether we can salvage the ramps so that we’ll cut down the cost of construction and the time of construction. That decision we could not take.

“We need the consultants and Berger to put their observations, and we have instruments we use to determine whether the observations are right or wrong. If the observations are as they have been sent to us, then it means that both the ramp and the axial section of the Carter Bridge will have to go.

“The critical decision we have to take is that, since it seems that all stakeholders are at peace that a new Carter Bridge be constructed, are we demolishing and following the existing one, or is there any way we can salvage and build something to be in use while we take a different alignment? We’re coming back to Lagos to determine that.”

He urged Julius Berger to make their investigative reports on each of the bicaps for both the Carter Bridge and Third Mainland Bridge before their return.

The minister stressed the need to remove the fallen structure of the previous Carter Bridge, which was demolished by a bomb blast, from the water to prevent it from affecting navigational activities.

Mr Umahi stated that the ministry is advertising for public engagement with experts to enable them to ascertain the technical information, design, and ideas of billing the Third Mainland Bridge and Carter Bridge.

He dismissed the idea of constructing a new Third Mainland Bridge but assured that everything would be done to rehabilitate it.