Julius Berger Nigeria PLC, and The Bridges Construction (Part 2)
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Julius Berger Nigeria PLC, and
The Bridges Construction (Part 2)
In 1965, Julius Berger was awarded a contract to
engineer, build and construct a major infrastructure project in Nigeria - the
Eko Bridge in Lagos. This was the foundation of Julius Berger’s commitment to
Nigeria.
Since then, the company has grown into a house hold
name across Nigeria in structural engineering and infrastructure works.
But little is known about the world renowned
construction magnate whose construction company - Julius Berger - built most of
our bridges and many Nigerian edifices.
Julius Berger was born in 1862 in Zempelburg, a small
town in Germany. His father sent him to Berlin at the age of 12 to take up an
apprenticeship with a leather wholesale firm. He returned to the family
transport business three years later in 1878.
He soon found himself more frequently transporting
building materials instead of grain. It was this transportation of building
materials that led to his becoming increasingly familiar with the construction
industry.
When he had learned enough, he switched professions
and started his own construction company named after him. Julius Berger came
into Nigeria in August 1965.
The famous third Mainland Bridge was one of the many
construction works of the architectural magnate. He died in 1942
About
The Longest Bridge in Nigeria — The Third Mainland Bridge
The Third Mainland Bridge is one of the three bridges
linking Lagos Island to the mainland. It is longer than the other two bridges,
the Eko and Carter bridges.
The bridge starts from Oworonshoki and ends Adeniji
Adele Interchange on Lagos Island. It was constructed by renowned engineering
firm, Julius Berger and was commissioned in 1990 by General Ibrahim Babangida.
With a total length of 11.8 km, the Third Mainland
Bridge is the longest in Nigeria and was the longest in Africa until 1996, when
the 20.5 km long 6th October Bridge in Cairo was completed.
Even though the official name of the bridge is
“Ibrahim Babangida Bridge”, it is rarely called by this name. The bridge
records very high traffic on a daily basis.
Who
built the first Niger Bridge?
This seemingly straight forward question about the
Niger Bridge linking Onitsha in the South East and Asaba in the South-South has
been eliciting a baffling answer from no less than our number one citizen. The
only explanation for this may be the politics of re election for President
Goodluck Jonathan.
With the 2015 election, our President, who never seems
to give a damn about the important things bothering Nigerian citizens, is
suddenly waking up to the reality of having to face the electorate again very
soon. What does he tell us or specifically the Igbo who at one point he said
were the ones that gave him the votes he got in the North and for whom, before
the last election, he promised to build a second Niger Bridge?
it
was clear that if anyone should take credit for the first Niger Bridge, it was
the head of the first civilian government in Nigeria, the Prime Minister,
Abubakar Tafawa Balewa whose government gave the contract for building the
bridge to the French company at the cost of 5 million Nigerian pounds, a job
that was executed in one year between 1964-1965. Indeed the commissioning of
the first Niger Bridge which took place on the 4th of January 1966 was one of
the last official assignments of the then Prime Minister before his
assassination in the military coup of 15th January 1966.
Before the libations for the successful execution of
the second Niger Bridge dries off, it may be good for the audience of Mr
President to ponder on why in this day and age, the proposed 1.8 kilometre
bridge should cost 117 billion naira and take 4 years to build, when the same
company has built a 1.8 kilometre bridge on the Lagos lagoon for 29 billion
naira? It is also good to remember that the flag off of the construction of the
same bridge was done by former President Obasanjo a few weeks to the end of his
term in 2007, something now repeated 7 years later.
The Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola has
finished building the first suspension bridge in Nigeria, making it another
landmark in the history of the Federation. It cost about N29 billion and toll
would be collected to recover the money expended on the project.
Lagos State Government led by the Governor had awarded
the construction of the bridge to Julius Berger.
Julius Berger Nigeria Plc began the construction of
the bridge in October, 2008. The total length of the main bridge is 466m. The
length of Cable Bridge is 170m (the suspended section), the height of Pyron is
87m from water level navigational requirement while the clearance average 9m
above high water level.
The width of the bridge (carriageway) is 8m by 2;
walkway of the bridge, 2.0m by 2; road works at Ikoyi End is 338.7m, while the
road works at the Lekki End is 311.5m.
The new bridge that will soon be formally commissioned
by Governor Babatunde Fashola is expected to decongest traffic in Lekki area of
Lagos and will become a cynosure of all eyes because it was aesthetically and
architecturally built.
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Julius Berger Nigeria PLC, and The bridges construction
Julius Berger Nigeria PLC, and The bridges construction
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