The Acting Federal Controller of Works in Anambra State, Seyi Martins, over the weekend announced that they will complete the second Niger bridge by the end of the year. And the route would be open to motorists following its completion.
Driving the news
Mr. Seyi Martins who received members of the Council for Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), stated that although the bridge is 95 percent complete, completing stage one of the project, operators are yet to begin work on stage two which is “a 3.3-kilometre road approach on the Delta side and a 7-kilometre approach road on the Anambra side.”
The big picture
The second Niger bridge, one of the three PIDF projects, connects Asaba, Delta State to Onitsha, a town in Anambra State that hosts one of the biggest markets in Nigeria and West Africa. A second Niger bridge would ease the traffic that currently burdens thousands of workers, traders and commuters plying that route.
What you should know
The second Niger bridge is about 1.7 kilometers parallel to the current Niger bridge. It has a dual carriageway with three lanes on both sides, measuring about 1.6 kilometers, while its total length of the project is 11.9 kilometers.
Motorists would access the second Niger bridge from the interchange at Oba on the Onitsha-Owerri Road, as a road was being constructed to connect traffic on the Asaba-Benin Expressway.