The Nigerian government has decided to stop and change the path of the Lagos-Calabar coastal road project to avoid harming key places and protect important communications equipment and submarine cables.
The decision was made public by Dave Umahi, the Minister of Works, during the third meeting of stakeholders for the coastal highway project in Lagos on Thursday, May 23, 2024.
Umahi stated that the President Bola Tinubu is expected to start building the road on Sunday, May 26.
He revealed that the first 47 kilometers of the highway have been fully changed to reduce the impact on the people living nearby.
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Umahi said:
“We have three critical infrastructures located on one spot. One is the 2Africa submarine cable that cuts across 33 countries, connecting about three billion people. That cable landed at Mopo, where the West African Cable System (WACS) had already been located about 17 years ago.
“Additionally, we have a mega IPP which is to provide power to the 2Africa cable and the WACS cable. This 50-megawatt power plant is crucial for the functioning of these cables. The proposed corridor would have passed right over the submarine cable, and the other side would have impacted the IPP.
“You cannot have the submarine cables without power; they will not function. The submarine cable is a critical national security infrastructure. If it is affected, everybody will be affected.
“We’ve done everything possible to manage the alignment with a human face, making hard decisions that are not harmful. We are also concerned about some houses in Goshen Estate and have taken this into account in our planning.”
