The honourable minister of works, Dave Umahi, argues that Paul Onwuanibe Landmark Group’s basic infrastructures are safe as the President Bola Tinubu-led government takes over part of Landmark’s facility for the Lagos-Calabar coastal line project.
The minister commented while speaking on Channel TV’s Morning Brief on Thursday.
The minister said that no job would be lost due to the federal government’s decision to take over an area of landmark investment for the coastal line project.
Umahi disclosed that the federal government had to reduce the corridor of the project to save his basic infrastructures.
KemiFilani recalls that the Lagos State government and the well-liked tourist destination Landmark Beach Resort have been at odds over the resort’s impending demolition to make room for a new coastal roadway.
Paul Onwuanibe, the resort’s owner, was concerned about how the demolition notice might affect investment and tourists when he received it in late March. The 700-kilometer Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project’s first phase is said to have the property within its designated right-of-way, according to the Lagos government.
He claims that the resort, worth more than $200 million, houses more than 80 enterprises and directly employs over 4,000 people. He also points out that it pays more than N2 billion in annual taxes to the state. Furthermore, the resort reportedly welcomed approximately a million local and international guests last year.
Onwuanibe, who bought the site before the highway plans were announced, expressed disappointment and requested compensation for future demolition. He is concerned that the measure may inhibit future investment in Lagos, particularly in the tourism sector.
Some of Landmark’s domestic and foreign investors have reportedly threatened to withdraw their investment if the resort is dismantled due to the fear of demolition. Onwuanibe highlights that the beach is essential to the environment of the resort and that its destruction will seriously harm the company as a whole.
However, speaking on the development on Thursday, Umahi said, ” There is major infrastructure, and then there is the shoreline, so what my ministry has done is to save a lot of infrastructure along that corridor.
“Our corridor design width of the road is 100 meters, it is 10 lanes, with 25 meters space at the middle for train and so but when we got to that point to save the infrastructure we reduced the corridor to 50 meters and so all his basic infrasturcture are safe and so the only thing that is involved is maybe the sandy areas where people go to play.”
The minister further suggests that no jobs will be lost as a result of the government’s deicison to embark on the coastal line project.
