Lagos — Concessionaire of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Bi-Courtney Highway Services Limited, yesterday launched its presence to commence

work at the Lagos end of the 105-kilometre road following the expiration of eviction notices served on trespassers to vacate the right of way.Leading the construction team at the site, Bi-Courtney Chairman, Dr. Wale Babalakin, SAN, said, "We cannot wait a second longer to start work.

The longer we wait, the more deplorable the road becomes, and the longer it takes for motorists to ply through."Bi-Courtney is to finance the reconstruction, expansion and modernisation of the 30-year-old road with N90billion under a Design-Build-Operate-Transfer scheme to run for 25 years.

Yesterday, the construction team inspected structures along the road at the Lagos end in readiness for the movement of heavy-duty equipment to site later in the day.

Owners of some of the illegal structures were seen trying to move away their valuables while most others were yet to make any move to vacate the right of way.Ministry of Works, Housing and Urban Development had issued the first eviction notices on 24 July, 2009, followed by a reminder on 3 August 2009.

The last notice given the trespassers a seven-day ultimatum was issued on 25 August 2009.According to the notices, by virtue of the concession agreement signed in May, Bi-Courtney "is to take full responsibility of the Expressway, the right of way and other properties along the corridor, " including all structures previously owned and managed by the Ministry.