Onitsha |2nd Niger Bridge | Transport | Approved

[Tbite]

2nd Niger Bridge, Onitsha



The route of the recommended plan is 2150m in length including a 600m bridge. Source: CCCC

Name: 2nd Niger Bridge
City: Onitsha
Use: Transport
Status: Approved (Completed 2015)

[Tbite]

IFC to finance 2nd Niger Bridge

By MICHAEL EBOH, FAVOUR AGBI & OLABISI MOSHOBA

The International Finance Corporation, IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, has said it will finance the construction of the second Niger Bridge.

The IFC in a statement made available to Vanguard, said its decision to finance the project is coming on the heels of a request by the Federal Government of Nigeria to that effect.

The IFC also said that it will provide advisory services for a new public-private partnership to build a hospital in Cross River State.

Speaking at the opening session of the Africa Regional Public-Private Partnership Conference, sponsored by IFC, the World Bank's Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility, and Nigeria's Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, in Lagos, Jean Philippe Prosper, IFC Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, said the financing of the second Niger bridge is in realization of the fact that Africa requires more than $90 billion annually in investment in maintenance and new projects, but is spending less than half of that.

According to him, well-structured Public-Private Partnerships in physical and social infrastructure are a priority for IFC because they can help African governments raise the large sums of capital required to meet infrastructure needs in energy, health, logistics, transportation, and water and sanitation.

Prosper said the IFC Advisory Services mandate will help the Cross River State government identify a private company to build and operate a new hospital.

"It builds on a successful mandate IFC received to help the government of Lesotho attract a private investor to build a world-class hospital in Maseru that opened in October. IFC will also consider the feasibility of a public-private partnership that would lead to investment for a second Niger River bridge crossing," he said.

Also speaking, Yolande Duhem, IFC Director for West and Central Africa said, "There is a large body of economic research that shows infrastructure investment results in more growth and poverty reduction. We thank the Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility, PPIAF and the government of Nigeria for working together with IFC on this conference to promote these important partnerships.

"The impact of the infrastructure deficit is enormous. The World Bank, for example, estimates that the Nigerian manufacturing sector must bear additional indirect costs amounting to 16 percent of sales because of bottlenecks in the business environment, much of it related to infrastructure. Losses due to power outages alone amount to 10 percent of sales."

Source: Vanguard

[megacity]

They should also do some kind of redevelopment project around the area where the bridge will be constructed. Maybe have a shopping mall around there or make the area a tourist attraction area.

The bridge doesn't look too exciting, but it does the job. It might look nicer as a cable-stayed bridge, sorta like the lekki-ikoyi bridge design.

[GAR3TH]

Considering the distance I was expecting something spectacular. Anyway glad to see something is being done after all these years.

[qymekkam]

yawwwwwwwwwwwwn i want an over da top bridge not dis nonsense please no one quote me on expense, for once i'd like to see some world class construction in this part of nigeria

[JoblessBeggar]

Originally Posted by qymekkam

yawwwwwwwwwwwwn i want an over da top bridge not dis nonsense please no one quote me on expense, for once i'd like to see some world class construction in this part of nigeria

'good soup na money cook am', as nigerians would say. If they build an expensive PPP bridge and toll it to recover costs, same Nigerians would cry blue murder. If folks can't afford the desirable, they should learn to desire the affordable. Good solid design btw.

[megacity]

Toll gates may not return in 2012

November 26, 2011
BY PAUL ODENYI, Abuja

The Federal Government’s desire to re-introduce tolls on major highways in the country may not materialize in 2012, especially, going by recent understanding between the Ministry of Works and the Senate.

This is even as the ministry and the committee have agreed that the process for the design of the second Niger Bridge will commence in the next fiscal year with the introduction of a rail track in the middle of the bridge.

Chairman of Senate Committee on Works, Senator Ayogu Eze, made this known in an interview with Saturday Vanguard in Abuja yesterday.

Eze said that while both agreed that toll gates should return as part of the comprehensive package for reforms in the public works sector, however, the Senate has insisted that for it to take off, alternative routes called secondary roads would be provided for those unable to afford the tolled highways.

’’The issue of re-introducing toll gates is not just a single item. It is part of the holistic package of reform in the road sector. It will include our views on concessions, private partnership, getting a road fund and creating a federal Highway authority within the ministry.

”Actually toll gates are necessary to come back but they would not just come back until all our roads are cleaned and spruced up and made motor-able.

’’Two, until we create secondary arteries so that those who do not have the resources, the capacity and the inclination to pay tolls by taking federal highways will go through that and arrive at their destinations.

,’’ It is not feasible for the return of toll gates until the conditions already agreed on with ministry are fulfilled.

” If we are able to finish all these things by next year, the tolls come, but if we are not able to finish it, of course, tolls will not come,” he said.

Asked if he was speaking for the National Assembly alone, Eze said “ we are talking together. The vision of the Senate coincides with the vision of the ministry. And I believe that we are on this page on this.’’

On the second Niger bridge which has become controversial for some time now, the Senator denied insinuations that the ministry has abandoned the project altogether, saying the final arrangement for the commencement of a new design for the bridge has been concluded.

He said the International Finance Consortium, IFC, the private sector arm of the World bank had already committed itself to some funding on the project saying that what is delaying the commencement is the long design period submitted by those bidding for the job.

”The process will commence in 2012. I can assure you. Just two days ago, the IFC was here and was discussing with the ministry. They are ready to bring some level of funding to start the study. What is delaying the take off is that a lot of proposals are coming in and it will take a minimum of 30 to 50 months for the design to be completed.

’’They are looking for people who can complete the design faster and ensure that the actual construction commences.

’’The new idea is that it will also carry a rail track in the middle. It will connect the railway running up to the north and the one running from Port Harcourt up to the North, through the South East.

You know the South Eat was cut off in the railway master plan that was done in the past. This one will carry a rail track so that the SE will not be completely cut off; that is also part of the design.” he concluded.


Source

Good to hear they will include railway tracks along with bridge. All that now matters is the execution of this project because countless contracts have been awarded for the project with nothing to show for the money spent.

But does it really take 3-4 Years for some architects to come up with a design!!!???? What could possible make the process take that long? Because that time frame seems waaaayyyy too long.

[nwoke-ogbunka]

[Tbite]

This design was submitted in 2009 so the design might have changed since then, but most likely I think this is the design that will be executed.

[HerachioBlo]

This is a bullshit design, why would you dredge the Niger then build a bridge that boats can't pass under?

[•eze•]

Why can't boats pass under?

[•eze•]

The bridge looks cheap though, this really isn't the sort of thing a country of Nigeria's size should be building for its largest river crossing.

[Naijaborn]

Jokerrs!!, The same onitcha that is supposed to house a river port??

[Tbite]

Well judging by the article...it seems they are still working on the design.

This render is simply from the company's website..and it was uploaded 2 years ago.

It could be an artists impression, it could be a preliminary design, it could be an old design. The design company might have changed etc etc etc.

However one of the bridges which was completed in Mali by this same company..followed the design on the website....to the letter.

However....funding for this bridge...has been ongoing for years...with funding uncertainties...there will always be changes in design...changes in funding means changings in costs..which will alter the design.

but then again...funding is more likely to be downward movement rather than upward movement...and this is a very simplified design..hmmmm

but as mentioned above there are also the issues of functionality and other considerations that will arise....

but seriously looking at the circumstances, I think the chances that this design is not the finalized design is very high.

[Madubaymi]

Nigerian minister confirms construction plans for second Niger Bridge over Onitsha

14 February 2012

Mike Onolememen, the Nigerian minister for works, has confirmed that the construction of a second Niger Bridge over Onitsha, Anambra State, will cost the government as much as N100 billion.

Mr Onolememen confirmed his determination to improve the state of the country's roads when he featured in the Pilot Newspaper Leadership Forum in Abuja, sunnewsonline.com has reported.

According to the minister for works, the construction project is key to transportation in the Nigerian capital and the wider economy.

The construction project has already been rubberstamped by the president, Goodluck Jonathan, who has earmarked the new bridge as a key move.

"It is one of those projects Mr President has accepted to designate special funding for, which is an outcome of the petrol subsidy removal and will also ensure there is no funding shortfall in the handling of the project," he is quoted by the news provider as saying.

He added that the president has also approved six major roads, "especially those ones that would link the six geo-political zones as priority projects that must be handled with dispatch within the next two years".

[GAR3TH]

[GAR3TH]

[GAR3TH]

Looks like the proposed East-west rail line [Enugu-Onitsha-Benin city-Lagos] will also run through the bridge.

[SUNS 25]

GAR3TH, Under construction?

[GAR3TH]

Not yet, they are still in the planning phase