Photo: This Day

Third Mainland Bridge.

The expected closure of the Third Mainland Bridge, yesterday, to allow for repair works on eight expansion joints did not take place after all.

Sources told LEADERSHIP that the repair work could not commenced as scheduled because the contractor that would handle the repair work is yet to mobilise to site.

Lagos Sector Commander of FRSC, Charles Akpabio, confirmed the postponement of the commencement of the repair work on the bridge.

Akpabio said the postponement of the repairs was to allow the Federal Government put more measures in place to ease possible traffic congestion the closure of the bridge would cause.

The Federal Controller of Work in Lagos State, Mr. Ejike Mgbemena also told LEADERSHIP that the closure was put on hold to allow for more palliative measures to be put in place.

"The repair works on the Third Mainland Bridge has not been suspended indefinitely as it is being speculated in the media. The repair work will start as soon as adequate logistics has been put in place to reduce likely effect the closure will have on the people," he said.

The Third Mainland Bridge was to have been closed for about five months beginning Sunday and to be re-opened on November 6, 2012.

Meanwhile, the planned partial closure of the Lagos Third Mainland Bridge scheduled to commence July 1st may be delayed due to intrigues and politics between agencies of Lagos and Federal Government.

A source told LEADERSHIP that the bridge would still be partially closed for repairs. "It is just that these people were now playing politics with the repair work. They are feeling that Lagos state government was taking the shine off the project."

Meanwhile, the Lagos State government, at the weekend, advised residents to restrict their movement across the state during the repair of the third Mainland Bridge in order to decongest traffic in the state's metropolis, even as it urged commuters to make use of public transport system mostly while travelling within the state.

Speaking with Journalists yesterday, the General Manager of Lagos State Transport Management Authority (LASTMA), Engineer Babatunde Edu appealed to residents especially, the wealthy ones, to avoid travelling with all their vehicles at a time, if they could possibly travel with less