S'African firms partner Bi-Courtney on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway

Some leading South African firms, led by Group Five, have agreed to partner Bi-Courtney Highway Services Limited to reconstruct the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.With the agreement, reconstruction of the road, which was conceded to BCHSL in 2009 by the Federal Government, will now be jointly handled by the company and Group Five, and financed by Rand Merchant Bank of South Africa.Other partners on the project, according to a statement by the spokesman of BCHSL, Mr. Dipo Kehinde, are Vela VKE (supporting engineers and consultants); Project Management International (construction experts); and Yola Consultants.The Minister of Works, Mr. Mike Onolememen, who received a team of the partners led by the Chairman, BCHSL, Dr. Wale Babalakin, in his office in Abuja on Thursday said, It is in the interest of every Nigerian for this concession to succeed. It is a project that is very important to us in the country, considering the busy nature of the road, which records about 3,000 vehicles per hour. It is the foremost dual carriageway in the country. It is, therefore, important for us to start work on time.We are convinced that you have the ability to realise the dream. We know one of the partners in the consortium very well, because we have been working together for long.Babalakin gave an assurance that the road would be delivered in three years as schedule, stressing that work would commence as soon as the rainy season ended.Group Fives knowledge of toll road in Africa is legendary. It comes in with very cognate and current experience for the actualisation of the project, he said.Incidentally, Group Five was formed in 1974 when the construction of the expressway began.
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