The Second Niger Bridge will be fully operational by the first quarter of 2024, according to Seyi Martins, the acting Federal Controller of Works in Anambra State.
Martins, however, asserted that the bridge would be formally opened by December 2022.
This information was revealed over the weekend when he hosted COREN members at the bridge construction site.
The Controller stated that the first phase of the project was largely finished, and that the only thing left to do is lay the final asphalt surfacing on the lane leading to Asaba, while the lane leading to Onitsha has already been completely laid.
“The bridge project is 95 per cent complete, and it is expected to be delivered by the end of December 2022, but there is a second phase, which is a 3.3-kilometre road approach on the Delta side and a 7-kilometre approach road on the Anambra side that is yet to commence.
“The second phase of the project has yet to commence, but the government has deemed it fit that upon completion of the first phase, it will be open to traffic”, he said.
He added that the bridge would be accessed from the interchange at Oba on the Onitsha-Owerri road, as a road was being constructed to connect traffic on the Asaba-Benin Expressway to it, pending the completion of the second phase.