The minister of Works, David Umahi has stated that shanty dwellers and caravan owners along the shorelines of the Lagos-Calabar 700-kilometre coastal road project won’t be compensated by the federal government, adding that, only those with permanent structures will be compensated during the cause of demolition.
Umahi gave the assertion while addressing stakeholders’ meeting on Lagos-Calabar highway project alongside property owners seeking compensation for the planned demolition of houses along the coastal highway project.
The minister also stressed that he inherited over 2,600 projects from the past administration, adding that the incumbent government in its efforts to bolster infrastructure milestones appropriated the projects into the 2024 project to redesign the projects towards completion.
He added that the Ministry of Works has a funding gap of N2.7 trillion while maintaining that the president is committed to closing the gaps with the prudency to drive project completion across the country.
The minister, who disclosed this during the inspection of the ongoing Lagos-Calabar coastal road project, buttressed that the project will cost a tentative sum of N15.356 trillion and will be completed before eight years.
Umahi said: “We will manifest all the projects towards completion adding that the 2024 Appropriation budget has the blueprint of the Lagos-Calabar coastal road and it is appropriated for.