Skip to main content

Planning works start for a second Niger Bridge

The Federal Government of Nigeria gave the go-ahead for work to start on the planning and design of a new Niger bridge. The country’s leaders have approved a US$2 million (Nigerian Naira N325 million) “transactional advisory services” contract to assess how to design and build, finance and operate a “Second Niger Bridge.” Contractor Roughton International Limited has been given 16 months to come back with a detailed schedule of how to progress.
August 17, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
The Federal Government of Nigeria gave the go-ahead for work to start on the planning and design of a new Niger bridge.

The country’s leaders have approved a US$2 million (Nigerian Naira N325 million) “transactional advisory services” contract to assess how to design and build, finance and operate a “Second Niger Bridge.” Contractor 6395 Roughton International Limited has been given 16 months to come back with a detailed schedule of how to progress.

At the same meeting, the Nigerian government also gave Roughton International the green light on a $1.9 million (N297 million) consultancy contract for a new road into Lagos’ Murtala Mohammed International Airport.

The “Second Niger Bridge” project is likely to be built using a public-private partnership arrangement said the country’s minister of works, Mike Onolememen, at the end of this week’s weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting chaired by president Goodluck Jonathan. The minister told local reporters that he “expected” that “ground-breaking” work would “start by the third quarter of 2013.”

According to Onolememen, “the Federal Government” is keen to “address Nigeria’s infrastructure deficit and improve the quality of public infrastructure services.” The public-private approach will be used to speed up this process he said, and the country will exploit “private sector investment” opportunities in order “to complement the drive towards bridging the country’s enormous infrastructure gap.”

“In view of this,” he added, “the Second Niger Bridge - which is a critical national infrastructure project – will form an essential link between the south west and south east (of Nigeria) and connect the cities of Onitsha and Asaba.”

The government has also decided to act on the Murtala Mohammed International Airport Road plan because the current highway is in a “deplorable condition” and it wants to create a new and much more impressive “gateway to Nigeria and Lagos.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • 17th IRF World Meeting: a landmark conference in an expanding region
    August 28, 2013
    The IRF is setting the stage for the most comprehensive conference ever in the Middle East — an expanding and dynamic region and home to some of the largest and most ambitious infrastructure projects in the world The 17th IRF World Meeting & Exhibition will feature more than 80 technical and scientific sessions, as well as 30 plenary, executive and special interest sessions, covering literally every aspect of ground transportation, making it the largest and most ambitious transport and road sector con
  • World Road Meeting 2017
    April 16, 2018
    The IRF World Road Meeting 2017 was held recently – World Highways’ India correspondent Partha Pratim Basistha reports The 18th World Road Meeting of the International Road Federation took place between 14-17 November 2017 in the North Indian state of Uttar Pradesh at Greater Noida near India’s capital New Delhi. Close to 1500 delegates and visitors across the world - including India - from the road infrastructure fraternity participated at the global event. The Cross Roads meeting, coinciding with an ex
  • Boom in Asian infrastructure investment
    February 8, 2012
    Investment in China and India continues unabated, but other nations on the continent are eager to attract companies as Patrick Smith reports Asia is still booming despite the current economic crisis, and new infrastructure programmes are constantly coming on stream. Powerhouses China and India, with their double-digit growth figures and huge infrastructure plans (in scope and cost), are leading the way and are still magnets for businesses wishing to expand, both in terms of facilities and customers. But oth
  • Funds pave way for Canadian runway upgrades
    May 21, 2021
    Around CAN$490 million (US$403 million) will be handed out through the Canadian government's new Airport Critical Infrastructure Programme.