This story examines the tourism cost of the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway, the plight of affected businesses, and associated controversies.
Most of the tourists are Nigerians. Others are foreigners on work-related trips from faraway India, China, Pakistan, the US, and other countries., too carefreely for a leisure destination that would soon give way to the initial stretch of a 753-km coastal road project.
Scattered all over the beach were chattering revellers — Asians playing soccer, half-clad tourists competing in a game of volleyball, restaurants serving fast food, vendors grilling meat, corporates raising a toast in picnics, paintball fanatics, and swimmers in the backdrop splashing pool water as music drowned out all else. Run by lifestyle businesses, these services see massive patronage.
The federal government has jurisdiction over navigable water bodies and makes it illegal to construct within 100 meters of a riverbank or 250 meters of any shoreline. Still, this regulation was not resolutely implemented along the Victoria Island beachfront over the years.It meant that, while some occupants filed taxes, they had no valid claim to use those spaces beyond largely undocumented approvals.
Emmanuel Abah manages Hangout Lagos, a lounge-bar business with over 30 staff members on its payroll and several suppliers in a post-paid contract. The prospect of being without employment scares the father of two, who fends for his aged mother and other dependents. Abah said attempts at compensation should consider creating a relief package for the jobs lost to the coastal highway project.
“I had projections for 2024 ending and another for when we hit five years. Now, I have been cut short. We’re back to square zero.”Even businesses not caught in the beachfront demolitions recorded a drastic shortfall in patronage without the location’s primary attraction. The pilot phase of the construction, for which ₦1.06 trillion has already been released, started at the Eko Atlantic City and will terminate at Lekki Deep Seaport. It is a highway of 10 lanes that government sources said would be the first of its kind in Africa.
Paul Onwuanibe had argued that the original right of way designated for the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway passes through a 1.5km stretch on the Water Corporation Road median.that the area became developed with high-rise buildings and other costly infrastructure, necessitating a redesign to rework the initial plan and reroute the coastal road.What was initially expected was for the coastal road to veer left of the Landmark beach and join back to Water Corporation drive.
Next, mitigation measures are developed to minimise or offset any adverse environmental impacts identified. “If impact assessment was done before the project design and planning, there could have been an alternative that doesn’t involve eliminating that beachfront,” Frank Nzeh, a Lagos-based civil engineer, said.
Lagos state touted Eko Atlantic as a project that would convert what could have been a liability to an asset. However, it is also viewed with apprehension among the citizenry, given the scale of ocean land reclamation that experts fear may divert excess water elsewhere.at Eko Atlantic are already defined. The Lagos-Calabar coastal highway is divided into different sections, the first and second of which are in Lagos.
The EIA expert acknowledges that the Eko Atlantic wall will, in a way, act as a buffer zone that will take the shock of the beach recession in Lagos and prevent adverse effects, although no in-depth study has established how much it contributes. He pointed out that Eko Atlantic had plans to reclaim and fill in an 8.5km stretch of coastline during its phases four, five, and six, extending up to the Twin Waters Tower in Lekki.
Nigeria Latest News, Nigeria Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway: Demolition for first 3km begins SaturdayThe Federal Government says demolition of structures within the first three kilometres of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway will begin ...
Read more »
Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road: Demolition Of Buildings Begins SaturdayThe Latest News from Nigeria and Around the World
Read more »
Socioeconomic benefits of Lagos-Calabar coastal projectThe Nation Newspaper Socioeconomic benefits of Lagos-Calabar coastal project
Read more »
Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road: FG Pledges Compensation As Demolition Of Structures BeginsThe Latest News from Nigeria and Around the World
Read more »
Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road: Nigerian govt begins demolition of affected properties“The federal government is considering the most economically viable way to pass the coastal road without much damage.'
Read more »
Lagos-Calabar coastal highway: FG begins demolition of properties affected by right of wayThe Federal Government has begun the demolition of properties affected by the right of way on the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway construction. The Minister of Works, David Umahi, made this known in a statement released by Mr Orji Uchenna, his Special Adviser on Media, on Sunday in Abuja.
Read more »