Lagos-Calabar highway: FG signs deal to attract foreign investments
The Federal Government, through the Ministry of Works, has signed the Engineering, Procurement, Construction, and Finance contract for the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway Project with Messrs. Hitech Construction Company Nig. Ltd.
This contract allows the contractor, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Finance, to secure foreign investment for the project, a statement by the works minister’s Special Adviser on Media, Uchenna Orji, stated on Tuesday.
He said the agreement is in accordance with the Renewed Hope administration’s roadmap to securing sustainable funding for the laudable and ambitious Legacy Projects that will stimulate economic growth.
During the signing ceremony, the Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, said the project had been the vision of President Bola Tinubu years ago and has now come to fruition under the Renewed Hope administration.
He assured that, with the contractor’s capabilities and the clear political will of Mr President, the 750km Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project would be completed by the grace of God before the end of Mr. President’s second term.
He said “We are very grateful to God almighty for this project that Mr President initiated.
A dream of about 27 years back is made flesh before us, and we are fortunate to be part of this wonderful, evolving, mega project, the biggest ever known in Africa- the Lagos-Calabar Superhighway.
So today, we have signed the EPC+F contract, which is Engineering, Procurement, Construction plus Finance.”
Speaking on the importance of the agreement, he said, “Now the beauty of it is that the F component of EPC + F is what is being fulfilled today. So, by signing this EPC+ F contract, it is paving the way for the contractor through the Federal Ministry of Finance to bring in foreign investment into this project. The Federal Government commitment is 30 per cent counterpart funding, which the President is fulfilling.”
He added, “And now there is a foreign component of the project, that is, foreign financing that will come in, it’s going to fast track the performance of this project, and I am happy with the performance of Hitech, with the quality of work they are doing and the speed of work. If not for settlement of a very high fee, we would have been able to commission the entire first section within one year of the project, even though it is for 36 months.”
Recall that the government initiated the construction of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway in March 2024, with the first phase covering 47.7km in Lagos, beginning at Ahmadu Bello Way. This phase is expected to be completed by May 2025.
Umahi said a kilometre of the road would be constructed at a total cost of N4bn.
