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Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway will be tolled immediately after commissioning, Umahi confirms.
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Tolling infrastructure to be built before road completion as part of project agreement.
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FG rules out further cost increase, pegs adjustment at N170bn despite realignment challenges.
The Federal Government has announced that the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway will be tolled as soon as construction is completed and the road is officially commissioned.
Minister of Works, David Umahi, made this known on Saturday during an inspection tour of ongoing construction works on sections of the highway in Lagos. He explained that tolling was embedded in the project agreement from the outset and would not be introduced after the road had been opened for free use.
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Umahi stressed that the contractor would be required to submit a clear programme for the construction of tolling infrastructure ahead of commissioning, noting that work on the facilities is expected to commence before the end of April.
According to him, tolling would begin immediately after the highway is completed and inaugurated, in line with the original project design.
On the issue of rising costs following the realignment of parts of the road, the minister said the Federal Government would not approve any further budget increase. He disclosed that all re-measurements had been concluded and forwarded to the Bureau of Public Procurement, adding that Nigeria could not afford additional financial adjustments.
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Umahi explained that the total approved increment of N170 billion resulted from realignment to protect high-rise buildings, address shoreline protection challenges, and evacuate massive refuse dumps—some extending up to 15 metres deep across several kilometres.
He added that the contractor, Hitech Construction Company Limited, would shoulder part of the financial burden as its contribution to national development.
The 750-kilometre Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway is designed to connect Nigeria’s coastal states and stimulate economic activities along the corridor. The inspection tour also covered sections of the Calabar–Itu Road and Sections 3A and 3B of the project in Cross River State.
