The Federal Government has set aside December 12 to 17 to publicly open Section 1 of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway for public use.

The Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, gave the assurance yesterday in Lagos, during a review of outstanding works on Section 1 of the highway project.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Section 1 is 47.47km long and has six lanes and two carriageways.

Umahi said: “We also set aside April next year to have Section 1 and half of Section 2 fully completed and commissioned.”

He said the contractor handling the project, Hi – tech Construction Company Ltd., had achieved more than 80 per cent of the reinforced concrete pavement.

The minister said: “We are very grateful to God Almighty for his mercies, and to the President and to the contractor.

“If we are to pay for everything they have done, it will be very difficult to have this job done because there are places we didn’t envisage that we were going to be removing pits up to a depth of 20 metres.

“They had to do that because they are partners in progress for the development of the country.”