Fourth Mainland Bridge …

•Lagos’ N844 billion MOU with the private sector is a model for public works 
in times of dwindling funds

The proposed 4th Mainland Bridge, to be funded and constructed by a slew of private sector partners, is clearly the biggest and most ambitious public works handled by any state government in Nigeria.

Though Lagos had been prior beneficiary of grand networks of roads and bridges, which included the Ijora Causeway Complex, Eko Bridge and the Lagos Inner Ring Road, the flyover component of the Third Mainland Bridge, all these had been embarked upon by the Federal Government.

But for the first time in its history, Lagos is handling such a gigantic and pivotal project all on its own, without federal funds. Even more striking: the funding is 100 per cent private money, where the state spends no kobo. This brilliant piece of financial engineering must be hailed. It is tribute to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and his team’s sound knowledge of financial matters. In these times of dwindling funding, other states may want to consider this model.

The consortium funding the project is Visible Assets Ltd, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, Hi-tec Construction Ltd, JP Morgan, Eldorado Nigeria Ltd, Nigeria Westminster Dredging and Marine, Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) and Access Bank — a slew of civil engineering firms and finance companies.

The project itself, a 38-kilometre bridge with six interchanges, projected when completed to be the longest in the country (if not in the whole of Africa), is designed as a build-operate-and-transfer (BOT) concession, to be tolled and operated by the builders over a 40-year period. It is a tribute to the project’s perceived viability and the state government’s high profile as a serious-minded and sophisticated corporate citizen that the project has attracted such star brands collaborating over it.

Though a 4th Mainland Bridge had been in incubation some 14 years now, since under the Bola Tinubu governorship, that it is being actualised under the Ambode administration underscores the imperative for positive continuity in governance. Such often result in consolidated development.

The implementation of the plan, and its proposed delivery time of three years, is also tribute to futuristic thinking. That the bridge is designed with a median wide enough for future expansion of its four lanes both ways, as well as a possible upgrade with light rail, shows a government seriously attuned to the imperative of adequate road infrastructure for a bustling megacity that Lagos has become.

Still, despite all these plaudits, we hope the Lagos State government has consulted wide enough with the involved communities and stakeholders. It is good that the bridge would open up more corridors in the state, particularly the fast developing eastern flank of Lekki, Langbasa and allied areas, with the beachhead at Ikorodu. But it is also true that though Nigerians love good facilities, they balk when it is time to pay for them.

We, therefore, hope the 40-year BOT concessionary period was arrived at after due consultation. Even then, it bears regular and periodic enlightenment, especially as the project nears delivery time.

Lagos cannot afford another Lekki concession ruckus from a slew of opportunistic lawyers, milking the emotions of project beneficiaries, mounting the crusade that tolling a facility is evil and heartless. Such a campaign, after the Lekki concession meltdown, cannot be good for private funding of public projects in Lagos, which now holds a lot of promise.

Another issue: we hope too that the Federal Government side has been tidied up. This vital project certainly cannot afford any bickering between Lagos State and the Federal Government.