Lekki-Epe Expressway
A
civil rights lawyer, Mr. Ebun Olu-Adegboruwa, has said the Lagos State
Government is not sincere with its buy-back of the Lekki-Epe road
concession project, alleging the action is meant to rescue the
concessionaire, Lekki Construction Company.
He accused the state government of
covering up the failure of the LCC to execute the project according to
the terms of the concession agreement.
The Lagos State House of Assembly had on
August 27 approved a supplementary budget of N7.5bn for the state
government to fund the acquisition of the existing concession right of
the expressway.
Before the intervention of the
government in the project, the LCC was mandated by a 30-year Build,
Operate and Transfer agreement to upgrade, expand and maintain the over
49km road (Phase I), and construct another 20km of coastal road (Phase
II) along the Lekki corridor.
But Olu-Adegboruwa said, “The reason for
the buy-back is that the project has failed. The loan they took to do
the project has been wasted and the money they were collecting from the
toll was not enough to execute the project. So, the Lagos State
Government is only being forced to buy back as a way of covering the
nakedness of the LCC.”
The lawyer had sued the state government and the LCC, asking the court to stop the collection of tolls from users of the road.
He requested the Lagos House of Assembly to set up a judicial commission of inquiry to investigate the contract.
He said, “I ask that a judicial commission of inquiry be set up by the House of Assembly to investigate the contract.
“We must know how much has been made
since December 18, 2011 when this thing started; how much loan is
involved; and then what the commitment of Lagos State to the project is.
This is because it has just been discovered that the Lagos State
Government obtained a loan of about N6bn from the African Development
Bank for this project to start.
“So, if it was Lagos State that gave the
initial fund for the project to start, why are we then paying so much?
It then means that LCC has no investment in this project.”
Olu-Adegboruwa also lamented the slow
pace of work and the high cost of the project, which he said was the
most expensive in the world.
“This is the longest road project in the
world. It is a 49km project. As I speak to you, they have not completed
up to 20km and this was a project that started in 2003.
“By the estimate of the African
Development Bank, at N1.3bn per kilometre, it is the most expensive road
project in the world. The cost of this project is N1.3bn per kilometre.
That is why I am asking for investigation.”
When asked to react to the allegations,
the state Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Ayodeji Gbeleyi, said he would
not speak on them in view of the pending suit.
But he said the government was on the
verge of finalising negotiations on the buy-back of the 100 per cent
shares of the LCC in the project.
“Negotiations on the 100 per cent shares
buy-back are about to be finalised and the implication for the Toll
Plaza 3, if any, and toll tariffs will only be determined when the Lagos
State Government assumes control.”
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