The development is not necessarily because of pushback from the communities affected, but solely due to President Bola Tinubu's intervention, Mr Umahi said.
The Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, has said that the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway will revert to the gazetted alignment between kilometres 16 and 25 to save submarine cables.
The minister disclosed this in Lagos at the third meeting with concerned parties of the coastal highway project, Arise TV reported.
The planned infrastructure, which has generated controversy, is designed to link the former capital city to Calabar, a port city near the border with Cameroon.
Landmark, one of the beaches affected by the highway, sits along the Atlantic Ocean beachfront in Lagos's affluent Victoria Island area.
A portion of the beach was sand-filled following a demolition notice for infringing on the right of way for the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project.
Some residents in Eti-Osa Local Government Area (LGA) who were issued demolition notice over the planned construction of the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway had pleaded with President Bola Tinubu to intervene and stop the "unlawful and unwarranted" exercise.
New route
During a two-hour session, the minister invited telecommunications companies affected by the ongoing project, residents of the Okun Ajah community, as well as other concerned persons, to make a case for why the new alignment should be altered.
Highlighting the concerns of MTN, 2Africa and other telecoms companies was the Group CEO of Machine and Equipment Consulting of Africa.
"We have three critical infrastructure that are located on one spot. One is the 2Africa submarine cable that cuts across 33 countries connecting about three billion people. That cable landed at Mopo and where it landed, the West African Cable Systems (WACS) had already been located there about 17 years ago.
"We have a mega IPP, which is to provide power to the 2Africa cable and the WACS cable. The power plant is a 50-megawatt power plant expected to support this infrastructure.
"The (new) corridor is passing right on the submarine cable and the other side is on the IPP. You cannot have the submarine cables without power. They will not function. The submarine cable is a critical national security infrastructure. If it is affected, everybody will be affected," he said.
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He referred to the recent subsea cable disruptions that caused internet outages in several countries across Africa.
"Two months ago, there was a challenge as far as Cote d'Ivoire, but a significant part of Africa was blanked out. Our appeal today is in view of the fact that this is not just a private project, it's a national project, it's the internet gateway to the nation and it's linked to national security.
"We are therefore appealing that for this critical infrastructure located at Mopo, that the road be diverted back to the original gazette.
"We welcome and commend the federal government for building this road. We think this is a major national infrastructure that enhances development, but we're appealing that for such national telecommunications infrastructure, the government should find a way of being sensitive to that reality, and divert the road away from this critical national infrastructure."
Following several interventions and appeals catering to diverse interests, Mr Umahi said, "Ladies and gentlemen, we have our proposal here and we have the old alignment, the gazetted alignment.
"To the glory of God, to solve MTN, 2Africa and Okun Ajah community (complaints), we are diverting completely from the new alignment and we are rejoining back to our new alignment at kilometre 25. Congratulations."
This revelation was met with rancorous applause and palpable relief by residents of Okun Ajah, who had previously expressed their concerns over the potential demolition of their properties, including ancestral homes, due to the controversial highway project.
Mr Umahi said that the development was not necessarily because of pushback from the communities affected, but solely due to President Tinubu's intervention.
