Lest Tanke Flyover Bridge Becomes a Deathtrap After Its Completion?

By Lawal Sharafadeen Arab

As we gradually approach the 2023 general elections, it becomes obvious that the Kwara State Government under the leadership of Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq is in hurry to deliver some of its ongoing projects so as to use them as campaign tools. While this is quite understandable, it is unfortunate that the Governor and his team are not considering the danger such hurry will have on the quality of those projects, particularly the General Tunde Idiagbon Flyover Bridge at Tanke in Ilorin.

It is rumored that the State government is mounting unnecessary pressure on the contractor handling the Flyover to ensure its completion before the APC Presidential rally in Kwara. This is because Governor Abdulrazaq reportedly wants President Muhammadu Buhari who is billed to attend the rally, to commission the Flyover and a few other projects that same day. This perhaps explains why the governor has been influencing postponement of the APC Presidential rally in Kwara which should have held last December.

The implication of this unnecessary haste and undue pressure on the Contractor is that it will definitely affect the Quality Control and Assurance of the project. The construction sequences of the project will be tampered with. Some components of the bridge which need to gain enough strength prior placement will be hastened up.

The structural strength of the abutment, the hasty work and the abundance of less than desired level of works overseen by the State Ministry of Works in the past, create concern and fear about the tensile strength of the piles!

It is glaring that the site workers, both the skilled and unskilled, will be overworked and/or stressed beyond their limit. This will have effect on their work.

Again, those, especially professionals who have visited the construction site must have observed that construction safety compliances of the workers there is quite below the average. For a project of such magnitude, PPE of workers should never be compromised.

More also, there is need for the Contractor and the supervisory MDA to closely work on the finishing of majority of the structural components. What is Honeycombs on the surface of the retaining walls doing there?

The joints are nothing to write home about. I can go on and on to mention some faulty lines in the project. The mess is just too much to mention and I do hope that those in charge will correct these anomalies to prevent future danger.

All these aforementioned areas are dangerous and shouldn’t be ignored without check. Kwarans should prepare for a worse case scenario if unnecessary pressure is allowed to be mounted on the Contractor to deliver the project without adequate structural finishing. A stich in time saves nine.

Lawal Sharafadeen Arab, Director of Media, Kwara PDP Governorship Campaign Council.