Bennett Oghifo
Citing defects at the bottom of the Eko Bridge in Lagos, the Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi has recommended the immediate closure of the waterways between Eko and Carter bridges to vessels.
Umahi gave the advice after inspecting the damage done by a dredger to one of the pie caps of the Carter Bridge, warning that it was dangerous for any form of ships or boats or dredgers to ply that waterway until necessary repairs were done.
“We had a very terrible situation at Eko Bridge; one of the pier caps has been damaged. A dredger hit one of the pier caps.
“The pier caps is like the legs to human beings. What the pier cap and the piers are to the bridges are what the legs are. So imagine a vehicle hitting one of your legs.
“And so I immediately directed divers to be deployed and I went to a smaller boat to monitor the level of damages below the water, occasioned by this dredger that hit the bridge. And I was very shocked. A whole pier cap was totally removed. And what is holding that particular section is only the rods. So some of the rods are removed. So it’s like a whole leg of somebody is cut off. Luckily for us, because I was to announce shutting down, but I’ve looked at it and there’s something we can do, even very delicate, but we can restore it. There’ll be no need of shutting down the system, but it’s an emergency situation because one pier is totally out.
“And so I’m discussing with Julius Berger on what they should do immediately to restore that, said Umahi who spent about five days attending to emergency situations on the Independence, Carter, Eko and Third Mainland bridges. He also held a stakeholders’ forum with regards to the Section II of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.
On the closure of the waterways, he said, “But let me announce and appeal to the governor of Lagos State to please enforce that the waterways between the Carter Bridge and the Eko Bridge should be closed. Because the dredger hit the pier caps and the piers tumbled and they sunk. And part of it is exposed. And so if a boat or ship is now going through that way, it may be very dangerous. And if we have a high tide, you may not see it.
“So what is safe is for that section of the waterway to be closed down. And so I’m alerting all the authorities, the Navy, the Lagos State Government, they have always been very proactive. This section has to be closed down immediately.
“I learned that the owner of the ship or whoever is the captain, of the dredger has been arrested. And so we are going to take decisive action because the damage is very major. And I also saw along the line a very serious dredging along the Third Mainland Bridge. Notwithstanding that the Federal Executive Council about four months back banned any form of dredging 10 kilometers radius from all bridges in Nigeria.
So I was very shocked to see that dredging is still taking place. The dredging of sand along seas and rivers is very dangerous because all the piers in Lagos State were executed through skin friction, which means that it is the sand that is holding the piers and holding the bridge. And so if we now go ahead to continue to excavate this sand, then it is dangerous.”
He said, “At the Third mainland Bridge, we have installed cameras to observe what is happening on top and also under the water and under the bridge. And so we’re going to be looking at that for all the bridges in Lagos, even though it’s quite a lot of cost. So this is what we noticed and it’s very dangerous.
“And so I’m announcing again and again that all forms of dredging in all our bridges in Lagos and all over the country to please stop. It’s very dangerous for the survivour of the bridges.”
The minister also condemned the parking of vehicles on the Carter Bridge, stating that it was not designed for static loads but for dynamic loads, which means vehicles that are moving.
“This is very, very important. Now, we examined the Independence Bridge. I had to examine what is happening below the deck to be sure that as we declared that the place is safe, that it’s safe. I’ve directed for minor works along one of the abutments, the sheet piling, but it’s nothing to worry about. But something to worry about is a repair work, like what is going on at the Third Mainland Bridge and Carter Bridge. They have to repair the pier caps and the cover to the pier caps that have deteriorated, because they have rusted, the rusts are exposed.”
He said part of the problems of the Third mainland Bridge and Carter Bridge was that “salt water had found itself in about 10 cm into the pier cap concrete, which means that it is just a question of time, it will start to attack the reinforcement. And so this is very dangerous.”
Earlier, Engineer Adeja Clement Olatunji, Supervisor in charge of Carter and Third Mainland bridges, gave details of the work so far done.
Mr. Gassan Kedi (project coordinator – Buildwell for Eko Bridge) said, “So far, we are at 75 percent completion of the work. All the asphalt has been done and all the bearings have been changed. We are changing right now the remaining of the expansion joints, we have 1,000 meters of expansion joint, we are at 700 right now, we still have 300 expansion joint to do. The solar light is almost 90 percent done.”
Engineer Thomas Crystal (Regional manager-Julius Berger), said, “The supervisor from the federal ministry already mentioned the numbers for Carter Bridge and Eko Bridge, which we inspected today, I won’t repeat this. I think he gave quite a detail of this. I just want to mention also that we are very well aware how critical this infrastructure is, two or three bridges, including Eko Bridge, is for Lagos and for Lagosians to connect the mainland with the islands. That’s why we are working here with best engineering practice.
“We did some thorough investigation underwater and above water on the quality and the structural integrity of the bridges. We are working together with the engineers at the moment from the federal ministry to find a proper solution to repair all the bridges in the best technical manner, and we will have also a design meeting or design workshop with the federal ministry people soon to round the design up and to finish this work as fast as possible, so that the bridges will be sustainable again for the next year.”
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