The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, on Saturday reassured that the main carriageway of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway will be completed ahead of schedule on April 30.

“We will do our best to deliver this on the expected date, which is the 30th of April,” said Mr Fashola while inspecting the highway.

The Special Adviser accompanied him to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Works and Infrastructure, Aramide Adeyoye, the Commissioner for Transportation, Frederick Oladeinde and other engineers.

The minister enumerated efforts to keep pace with construction speed, despite challenges of high vehicular volume, the impact of bad soil, reckless driving by impatient motorists, and other technical issues.

He explained interventions to reduce the impact of gridlock on motorists and commuters using traffic and law enforcement agencies from both Lagos State and Ogun.

Mr Fashola also explained emergency measures of opening up some sections adopted by the federal controller of works in Lagos State, Umar Bakare, to ease gridlock for travellers during the Easter holiday.

He said the contractors were working on the last stretch of six kilometres, which was the most difficult aspect, to construct out of the entire 44 km of section one of the highway, which spans from Ojota in Lagos to Sagamu interchange.

Mr Fashola said three teams of 450 construction workers were working simultaneously on three sections, deploying about 110 equipment, machines and trucks.

“So far, so good, we are on course, on the last stretch of the race. Often, when you are running a marathon, as you get towards the end, you get fatigued as you see the finish line.

“We stayed focused, that is one of the reasons I am here to ensure that we will meet that deadline, fingers crossed, I hope that we do not have any unforeseen developments again,” he said.

He said traffic regulatory and law enforcement agencies had their tow trucks and other logistics handy to clear impediments from breakdowns and accidents.

Speaking on constant accidents on the Otedola Bridge, Mr Fashola said some properties needed to be relocated in addition to some engineering solutions to curb the menace.

The minister said the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway reconstruction/rehabilitation project would take care of disorderliness, including street trading, reckless driving and other excesses of road users.

He added that it will be easy for law enforcement and traffic regulatory agencies to enforce the order after the project is delivered.

(NAN)