|
Listen now
|
Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Saturday, reopened Apongbon Bridge for vehicular movement after 15 months of fire outbreak at the market.
Apongbon Bridge links Lagos island with the mainland and directly connects Apongbon on the island side.
On March 23, 2022, many shops were destroyed in a fire outbreak at the Apongbon market area.
Vehicles parked under the bridge were also reportedly razed by the inferno which enveloped a large section of the flyover.
Owing to the incident, the Lagos government ordered the closure of the Apongbon Bridge.
In June, the federal government announced July 15 as the new deadline for the completion of repairs and the reopening of Eko bridge to traffic.
The bridge’s reopening brought huge relief for motorists and commuters, who endured months of pain transiting in and out of Lagos Island.
Governor Sanwo-Olu said the repair at the Apogbon Bridge axis had been completed, but disclosed that maintenance work would continue on the infrastructure, which would lead to intermittent closures in the coming months.
“It is with great delight to announce that we have carried out comprehensive tests with the contractor from the Federal Ministry of Works and we believe that Apogbon section of the Eko Bridge can now be opened for motorists. But the maintenance work on the entire bridge has not completed. There are lots of bearings that still need to be reinforced along the entire stretch of the infrastructure.
“In future, there will be more intermittent closures at different sections of the bridge but the period may not be longer than one or two weeks. This is necessary for us to jerk up the bridge and complete the maintenance work. We are reopening the bridge to bring relief to road users, who have endured hardship due to the repair work.”