OLORUNDARE ENIMOLA, Lagos
David Umahi, the Minister of Works, on Monday took an inspection tour of the ongoing Lagos-Calabar coastal road, taking along some members of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, Human Rights Activists and other members of the public to ascertain progress made on the ongoing construction and the commitment of the Federal Government and HIitech Construction Company to ensure a quality and timely delivery of the road.
He however called on the Media and Civil Society Groups, to open a full scale investigation on illegal land acquisition, particularly the alleged $250 million disapora remittances sunk into real estate investments by Winhomes properties, who alleged that the Federal government demolished her multi-million dollar investment along the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway corridors to pave way for the gazetted alignment of the coastal highway project.
Umahi stated that the principle of overriding public interest in cases of land acquisition for infrastructure projects were duly followed in the context of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project, which faced opposition from developers, realtors and some property owners along the proposed route.
According to Umahi, Presidency believes that national development takes precedence over individual land ownership in such situations.
While revealing that Winhomes Global Properties has been holding media rounds and engagements in various foras in diaspora to de-market the efforts of the Federal Ministry of Works on the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project to foreign audiences where she declared that her diaspora investment totalling over $250 million was demolished by the Nigerian government.
Umahi therefore warned diaspora investors to stop engaging in bully tactics, innuendoes, conjectures and sensational reporting of the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project while stating that the Ministry is open for inspection, scrutiny and transparent policy.
He gave the warning when the inspection had a stop over to inspect the Winhomes property located at Kilometre 18 of the Coastal road, pointing to the bare land without any noticeable structure other than some few metres of fencing and water drainage on it, using the opportunity to refute claims made by the owners that the Nigerian government had demolished a $250 million diasporan Estate investment.
Addressing Journalist on the Winhomes site, Umahi said, "as you can see there's nothing near the $250 million diasporan investments here," adding that it is just a cyber bullying attempt to send propaganda to the Ministry and de-market the Ministers efforts in bolstering road infrastructure projects in the country.
Umahi's refutall follows accusations by the Chairman of Winhomes Global Services, Mrs. Stella Okengwu, who claimed that the property worth $250 million dollar investments at the Okun Ajah axis of the coastline road.
Mrs Okengwu according to the Minister had claimed that officials of the Ministry of Works demanded bribes to prevent the demolition of her property, and that the original gazetted alignment of the coastal highway was compromised after some developers allegedly bribed for approvals to adjust the route.
Umahi said he has written a petition on the allegation to the Department for State Security DSS, and The Economic and Financial Crime Commission to lead their operatives to investigate the alleged Land scams by the Ministry of Works.
Buttressing his point, Umahi directed state security agency to issue a 7 days ultimatum to Winhomes properties to provide full claims of the demolished $250 million investment by the federal government to pave way for the gazetted alignment of the coastal highway project.
Umahi hinted that Winhomes property developer claimed she bought the 12 hectares of land for N50 million in 2022 adding that the land wouldn't have been sold for such paltry amount while noting that she was evacuated from the coastal highway corridors when the ministry realized the land had MTN Submarine cables running through it.
Speaking on the pace of the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project, Umahi revealed that the construction of the concrete roads has led to the sharp reduction of bitumen into the country adding that the value chain of the coastal road project is big such that investment in bitumen business is crumbling as concrete roads had taken over road construction sector.
The minister also provided updates on progress along Sections 1 and 2 of the project, stressing that there was no damage to completed works despite ongoing sandfilling and heavy rainfall.
He noted that rainwater had even aided soil consolidation, while only 2.5 kilometres of challenging stormwater areas were still under construction.
Umahi commended Hitech Construction Company for its pace of work on section 2, revealing that over 12 kilometres of concrete pavement had been completed and concreting was set to extend to chainage 89 in the coming week.
He disclosed that additional equipment had been deployed to sustain the effort, adding: “With the kind of mobilization and equipment you see here, Hitech is capable of doing one kilometre of the coastal highway per day. We are not afraid about the timing.”
Also speaking, PDP Stalwart, Segun Showunmi said there is no linkage of fraud between the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project adding that the project upon completion will drive investment and attract foreign direct investments to the country.
He said Its a new dawn as Nigeria will now compete with Dubai, and some developed countries. write to Department of State Security, DSS, EFCC and also write petitions to the USA embassy to repatriate Stella Okengwu to defend her claims while urging civil society groups to report factual information on the coastal road.
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