Skip to main content

Late delivery for Lagos to Ibadan highway upgrade

Completion of the Lagos to Ibadan highway upgrade in Nigeria will not occur until 2021. The improvement work was initially to have been delivered by 2017. However a string of delays to the work have resulted from insufficient funds and from contractors leaving the jobsite. The current Nigerian Government has now cleared the debts for the project. Around 50% of the highway upgrade has been carried out so far. The contractor Reynolds Construction Company is working on a section from the Sagamu Interchange to
November 22, 2018 Read time: 2 mins

Completion of the Lagos to Ibadan highway upgrade in Nigeria will not occur until 2021. The improvement work was initially to have been delivered by 2017. However a string of delays to the work have resulted from insufficient funds and from contractors leaving the jobsite. The current Nigerian Government has now cleared the debts for the project. Around 50% of the highway upgrade has been carried out so far. The contractor Reynolds Construction Company is working on a section from the Sagamu Interchange to Ibadan itself. The construction firm 7740 Julius Berger is now recommencing its operations on its section of the route, from Lagos to Sagamu Interchange. The Lagos State Government is working on the bus rapid transit (BRT) portion of the project. Meanwhile work has also been restarted on two footbridges crossing the highway.

The highway is important to Nigeria as it connects the country’s commercial hub (and former capital) Lagos with the city of Ibadan, another economically active location. The tolled route is one of the busiest in Nigeria and also Africa as a whole and plans to improve the link were approved under the previous administration, with work starting in 2013. However work has stalled a number of times due largely to funding issues. The existing 128km highway was completed in 1978, making it Nigeria’s first multi-lane express route. However the highway fell into disrepair and was also unable to cope with the volumes of traffic it was having to handle as a key route between the busy port of Lagos and the north of the country.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Plans in hand for Uganda’s key highway upgrade
    July 25, 2014
    In Uganda planning is underway for the upgrade of the Kampala-Jinja route. Preparations are being made for a new tolled highway connecting with capital Kampala. The upgrade will see the route being widened with four lanes for much of the length, six lanes on the approach to Kampala and up to eight lanes where vehicle densities will be heaviest to carry the capital’s traffic. The construction work is expected to cost some US$74 million and the new link will connect with the existing Kampala-Entebbe highway.
  • Building Georgia’s transport connections to its neighbours
    October 26, 2016
    Georgia’s government aspires to turn the country into a regional transport-transit hub, and with renovated and expanded transportation infrastructure it knows that the country can offer significant opportunities to others in the region, and globally – Gordon Feller writes The Caucasus Transit Corridor (CTC) is the key transit-route between Western Europe and Central Asia for oil and gas, as well as dry cargo. CTC is part of TRACECA (TRAnsport Corridor Europe to Central Asia). This is the shortest route
  • Serbia’s pan-European Corridor X is in the slow lane
    October 23, 2017
    It’s been slow progress on Serbia’s Corridor X project. Gordon Feller reports. Back in the early 2000’s, the European Union undertook an ambitious programme to link the main cities of its south-eastern region. This involved connecting five key seaports – the Greek cities of Patras, Igoumenitsa, Piraeus and Thessaloniki as well as Romania’s Black Sea city of Constanta. Initially the plan involved two motorways across Greece. The first was a new 780km route including a branch to Ormenio on Greece’s north-eas
  • Chile highway construction works planned
    May 12, 2017
    The Chilean Government is planning a series of major highway projects with the Ministry of Public Works (MOP) managing the works. The plans call for 14 concessions worth a total of US$3.74 billion to be awarded by January 2018. The second stage of Americo Vespucio Oriente highway (AVO 2) is costing $800 million and is a priority project. This has been delayed already and opening of the route is now expected for 2022. Five regional highways are also opening for tender, including the Ruta G-21 road link, whic