VANGUARD
•Cars to pay N1500, trucks N5000 – Umahi
•Says Landmark Resort, jobs won’t be affected
•Property owners to be compensated
By Emma Amaize, Regional Editor, South-South, Theodore Opara, Clifford Ndujihe, Dayo Johnson, Victor AhiumaYoung, John Alechenu, Kingsley Adeboye, Shina Abubakar, Rotimi Ojomoyela, James Ogunnaike & Laolu Elijah
ASABA — Outrage, yesterday greeted the Federal Government’s proposal to charge N3,000 on average per toll gate when the Lagos-Calabar coastal road is completed.
Minister of Works, Senator Dave Umahi, confirmed the figure, yesterday when he was featured on a programme on Channels Television.
Among those who kicked against the move and other details of the road, yesterday were the 2023 presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar; the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC; the Labour Party, LP; Coalition of United Political Parties, CUPP; the Pan-Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF; and transport operators, among others.
Umahi said: “Let me leave out the infrastructure along the corridor. Let me just concentrate on the tolls and I put 50,000 vehicles as an average passage on these toll points per day,” Umahi said on the breakfast show.
“I put N3,000 as an average cost. N3,000 because the cars could be like N1,500, and the big trucks could be like N5,000. “So, we put an average. In 15 years, you make back the money,” he said, dismissing calls that the cost budgeted for the road was high.
According to him, there will be security at the toll gates and some facilities like filling stations.
“At every point of tolling, we also have toll station where we have a kind of relief activities — restaurants, filling stations, parking lots, and so on and so forth. So, people will now have confidence. In these sections, we intend to put CCTV all through,” Umahi said.
Landmark property’ll be intact, no job’ll be lost
The Minister of Works also said the property of Landmark Beach Resort will not be demolished for the 700-kilometre coastal road project, adding that no jobs will be lost.
His words: “I was at Landmark, yesterday (Wednesday), to see what was going on. Despite claims that 12,000 jobs will be lost, I told Landmark that no jobs will be lost by what we’re doing. What could be lost is the shoreline and the people that go to play at the shoreline. His facilities will be intact because we reduced the corridor by 50 metres.
“I saw that there’s no permanent structure other than a few shanties along the shoreline that are affected. I told him that no job will be lost, and he agreed with me.”
Land ownership
On ownership of the shoreline, the minister said: “Who owns the land is not supposed to be my problem but the Federal Government by the Waterways Act and the recent Supreme Court judgement, gave the right of ownership of the shoreline to FG, 250 metres from the point of the shoreline, which means it belongs to FG.
“However, we’re interested here because it’s an investment, and we’re happy with it. We are taking 50 metres of that shoreline, and it’s irrevocable. I also told him if he’s interested in the waterways, he should create one on top.”
Recall that the Lagos State Government had issued a notice of demolition of the $200 million Landmark Beach Resort, saying the property obstructs the planned route of the coastal road project.
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