The Minister of Finance Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, and the Managing Director of the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority, Uche Orji, on Saturday began an inspection of the second Niger Bridge project.
The finance minister who led other top government officials to the site arrived at the bridge at exactly 11:45am.
The minister was joined on the inspection by the Deputy Governor of Anambra State, Dr Gilbert Ibezim.
Advertisement
Her visit is coming barely three weeks after President Muhammadu Buhari conducted an inspection on the spate of work on the project.
Buhari who was then represented by his Chief of Staff, Prof Ibrahim Gambari, was accompanied on the inspection by the Minister of Works, Babatunde Fashola; Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority, Uche Orji; and other top officials of government.
The project located in the South-East region of Nigeria, is expected to boost economic activities and open up development in that part of the country.
It is being implemented by the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority with funding from the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund.
The bridge aims to minimize traffic congestion on the old bridge and to strengthen connectivity in the entire region.
The project is being constructed by Julius Berger Nigeria Plc. and involves the construction of a 1.6km bridge over the River Niger, scheduled for completion in August 2022, construction of two secondary bridges at CH25+166 (Amakom Village Road) and CH28+304 (Atani Road) spanning 21.7m each, which have now been completed, demolition of existing flyover and construction of new interchange at CH34+100 (Onitsha-Owerri Road), scheduled for completion in August 2022.