The Federal government has secured funding for the ongoing Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project through an Engineering Procurement Construction and Financing (EPC+F) agreement with Hitech Construction Company Nig. Ltd.
The Minister of Works, David Umahi, said the move aligns with the government’s roadmap for sustainable funding of key legacy projects aimed at driving economic growth.
The first 30 kilometers of the project, Phase 1, Section 1, will be completed before May 29, the minister announced recently.
The minister also revealed that the flag off of the construction of Sections 3A and B of the highway in Calabar was imminent.
According the minister’s media adviser Uchenna Orji, the agreement was signed in Abuja on Tuesday by the Federal Ministry of Works the EPC+F contract component of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway Project with Messrs. Hitech Construction Company Nig. Ltd.
The Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, who signed on behalf of the Federal government alongside Hitech Construction Ltd’s Managing Director, Dany Abboud, emphasized that the agreement was executed in full compliance with the law.
After receiving the document from the Permanent Secretary, the minister expressed gratitude to God for the legacy project, noting that it had been President Bola Tinubu’s long-held vision, now coming to fruition under the Renewed Hope administration.
He assured that, with the contractor’s capacity and the President’s strong political will, the 750km Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway would be completed by God’s grace before the end of Tinubu’s second term.
He said: “We’re very grateful to God Almighty for this project that Mr. President initiated. A dream of about 27 years back is made fresh before us, and we are fortunate to be part of this wonderful, evolving, mega project, biggest ever known in Africa- the Lagos-Calabar Superhighway.
“So today, we have signed the EPC+F contract, which is Engineering, Procurement, Construction plus Finance.”
Highlighting the significance of the agreement, he noted that the key achievement was fulfilling the F component of the EPC+F model, noting that by signing the contract, the Federal Ministry of Finance is enabling the contractor to attract foreign investment into the project.
“The Federal government commitment is 30% counterpart funding, which the President is fulfilling and now there is a foreign component of the project, that is, foreign financing that will come in, it’s going to fast track the performance of this project.
“I’m happy with the performance of Hitech, with the quality of work they are doing and the speed of work.
“If not for settlement of a very high fee, we would have been able to commission the entire first section within one year of the project, even though it is for 36 months,” the minister added.