The Federal Government has halted the proposed realignment of the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway.
Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, disclosed this at the Third Stakeholders’ Meeting of the coastal highway project, on Thursday, in Lagos.
Umahi explained that the decision was essential to preserve several vital installations and protect critical telecommunications infrastructure and submarine cables.
“We have three critical infrastructures located on one spot. One is the 2Africa submarine cable that cuts across 33 countries, connecting about three billion people. That cable landed at Mopo, where the West African Cable System (WACS) had already been located about 17 years ago”.
“Additionally, we have a mega IPP which is to provide power to the 2Africa cable and the WACS cable. This 50-megawatt power plant is crucial for the functioning of these cables. The proposed corridor would have passed right over the submarine cable, and the other side would have impacted the IPP. You cannot have the submarine cables without power; they will not function. The submarine cable is a critical national security infrastructure. If it is affected, everybody will be affected,” Umahi emphasised.
President Bola Tinubu is expected to flag off the road’s construction on Sunday, May 26.
Umahi added that the first section of the highway, spanning 47 kilometres, has been fully redesigned to minimize impact on the local community.
“We’ve done everything possible to manage the alignment with a human face, making hard decisions that are not harmful. We are also concerned about some houses in Goshen Estate and have taken this into account in our planning,” he said.