By Engr. Sheriff Babalola
I am a Civil Engineer who resides in Tanke, Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria. I have lived in Tanke for over ten years and the tipper garage junction is my daily route. So this project is personal to me and this has led me to interact with the construction team on site severally, asking questions and observing them work.
In any society, when development comes to a community, the residents are always happy, and whenever you see the unhappy ones, you should investigate properly. This mind-set helped me unravel the criticisms being meted to the Tanke Flyover Project.
We Tanke residents, led by the Alangua (The community leader) are very happy at the development, and even shop owners around the construction site are happy at the great economic prospects that will come with the completion of the flyover. Although we wish it can be completed within the shortest possible time.
We understand that development comes with a little inconvenience at times. Roads may be closed, there may be increased traffic, business may be affected, the environment might be dusty, but what happens at the completion of the project? All the inconveniences will be totally forgotten, traffic will have been totally eradicated, businesses will boom and the environment will totally take a new look. The only unhappy people are those who are politically motivated and have made it their job to criticise anything done by the present administration. I am certain that nothing can please these bitter souls who are bitter about the significant progress being made by the present Administration in Kwara State.
Why won’t you be happy at the construction of a flyover at Tanke? The same people who complained about the traffic at Tipper Garage are now saying that the traffic wasn’t a problem. Several times, I have spent up to an hour in traffic at Tanke, and once the flyover is completed, I see no reason why I should have any delays while navigating the flyover. The flyover at Post Office might have been poorly planned and may not have totally eradicated the traffic at Post-Office, but having seen the design of the Tanke Flyover, I am confident that the Tanke-flyover will be a huge success in terms of traffic eradication.
In terms of beauty, this flyover has an aesthetic truss design which makes it second to none in the entire Nigeria. The project team needs to be celebrated for this feat. I have seen a lot of bridges constructed by expatriates where several demolitions had to be done because of mistakes, but to the best of my knowledge, no mistake has been made so far on this project and nothing has had to be demolished. We need to celebrate our Indigenous engineers and artisans who were able to pull this off without any foreign input.
There have also been some criticisms on the safety procedure of the casual workers on the site, but the safety records of the project are there for anyone to see. Since the commencement of the project, there has only been one major injury. The safety statistics of the project are impressive for a project of this nature.
There have also been criticisms on the quality of concrete and reinforcement used for the project, this is a very careless rumour. For a project of this magnitude, the Quality Control records are there, and samples are taken from every concrete poured and every reinforcement used on the project. Every structural element of the project has been tested and found to be compliant to the design specifications. Also, the consultants who designed the bridge are resident on the project and are monitoring the quality of every structural member of the bridge. The Resident Engineers of the Kwara State Ministry of Works are also on site monitoring the quality of the project. Everyone on the project has a reputation to protect: the client, the contractor and consultants all have reputations to protect.
Regarding the pace of project, it can be faster, but let’s not forget that it is a bridge that is being constructed and not a shop. A bridge cannot be constructed overnight, and I am sure that if this bridge was constructed within 9 months for instance, these same critics will be the first to raise concerns about the fast pace and questioning the quality. It is normal to have delays in projects for various reasons, ranging from rainfall to mechanical faults and challenges on logistics. A delay shouldn’t be overflogged.
My appeal to politicians and other biased observers is that they should not distract this landmark project and I enjoin everyone to focus on a better Kwara as being led by the man of the people, a true Kwara Son, Mallam AbdulRazaq AbdulRahman. Engineer Sheriff Babalola MNSE is a resident of Tankev Area, Ilorin, Kwara State.
