Senate Declares Airport, Kubwa Roads Death Traps
The Senate Committee on the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), at the weekend declared the newly expanded Umaru Musa Yar’ Adua (Airport Road) and Kubwa Expressways as death traps built with obsolete engineering designs.
Chairman of the committee, Senator Smart Adeyemi, who made the observation during an oversight tour of the two roads at the weekend, said that the designs made in 1981 were outdated even as he berated the construction companies handling the projects for failing to advise the federal government on the need to update the designs despite the huge cost of the road.
During their interactions with the committee, the project manager of Julius Berger Plc, his counterpart for the CGC Construction, Mr. Zhao Jian Rong and the chief resident engineer for the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), Mr. Felix Nwankwo, confirmed that the designs for the roads were actually made in 1981 and were obsolete.
They however told the Senate committee that the cost of correcting the designs was “too high,” adding that one of the consequences of the outdated design is the high rate of accidents on the roads.
Senator Adeyemi stated that though the committee was pleased with the pace of work by Julius Berger, it was alarmed to discover open drainages in the middle of the roads; a practice he noted is out of use in all nations’ capitals around the world.
“The committee observed with dismay that the three sites visited displayed common features of road construction with obsolete and outdated engineering designs which are no longer popular and out of practice for over a decade in most parts of the world. It’s all about an open drainage in the middle of the road,” he lamented.
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