David Umahi, minister of works, says the installation of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras on the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos is intended to prevent suicide attempts.
Umahi, while featuring as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday, said the cameras were installed to check sand excavation around the bridge.
He said security personnel would monitor footage from the CCTV and enforce speed regulations.
“We have put CCTVs down under the deck so that anybody that is excavating sand within the 10-kilometre radius will be spotted. We have built, beside the bank of the sea on Third Mainland Bridge, an examination house where we have the police, navy, army and local security.
“They will all be there watching the CCTV so that anybody who is trying to take his life on the third mainland bridge, they will spot the person. With this CCTV, there will be no more excavation of sand under the deck around the pies,” Umahi said.
During the interview, the former Ebonyi governor expressed concerns about sand excavation beneath the deck of the bridge.
According to Umahi, the initial construction of the approach slab was done as a cantilever, which was structurally inappropriate.
He stated that the slab failed when the sand fill beneath it leaked, compromising its integrity and posing a serious risk to commuters.
The minister also expressed satisfaction with the level of work on the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway.
He added that 30 kilometres of the road would be ready for President Bola Tinubu to inaugurate on May 25.
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