Nigerian authorities have said work will begin in the first quarter of next year on the 38-km-long Fourth Mainland Bridge between Lagos Island the mainland.
The announcement was made yesterday by Obafemi Hamzat, the deputy governor of Lagos State, during an online conference.
He described the bridge, which would be the longest in Africa, as the key to easing traffic congestion in Nigeria’s commercial capital. Â
The bridge would run across Lagos lagoon by way of Lekki.
The project was proposed in 2006 and a sum of $2.2bn was earmarked for it in the 2017 budget of Lagos State, however work has always been delayed by problems in finding the best route through the densely populated city.
When complete, it is expected to carry four lanes of traffic and help to ease the load on the Likki-Epi expressway.
Thirty-two bids were entered to build the project, from which a shortlist of 10, dominated by Chinese companies, was drawn up in April.
The teams in the running are:
- China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation Nigeria
- A joint venture between China Gezhouba Group and the China Geo-Engineering Corporation
- China Harbour Engineering
- China State Construction Engineering Corporation Nigeria
- Power Construction Corporation of China Communications Construction
- China Communications Construction and Mota-Engil of Portugal
- IC Ictas of Turkey
- Ingenieros Consultores of Spain
- Julius Berger of Germany
- Mutual Commitment Company of Nigeria
A design for the bridge has been produced by Ohio-based Advanced Engineering Consultants (AEC), and takes the form of a box girder.
Other companies involved in planning the project over the years include Nigerian architect and urban planner NLÉ, WPP-ParsonsBrinckerhoff of Canada, UK consulting engineers Mott MacDonald and Rendel, and Dutch engineer Royal Haskoning.
Image: AEC’s rendering of the Fourth Mainland Bridge
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