Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, took a trip from Beijing to Dalian at the weekend, where he conducted a tour of the famous Dalian Urban Planning Exhibition Centre in Xigang District.
Governor Sanwo-Olu is currently on a working visit to China with some government officials.
Dalian is a city famous for its aquatic products and has a coastline of about 1,900 kilometres in the northeast of China.
The Dalian Urban Planning Exhibition Centre, a three-floor building, is loaded with historical changes in the city’s ongoing construction, its current conditions, and the blueprint for future development.
Besides, it provides the guests with an opportunity to learn about the past of the Chinese city, the transition to the present day and its transformation, and a demonstration of what the immediate future would look like.
Meanwhile, Governor Sanwo-Olu has reassured Lagos residents that the long-awaited Fourth Mainland Bridge project will begin shortly, urging the contractor handling the project, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), to ensure the groundbreaking of the project in March.
The governor further assured that his administration was committed to the delivery of the bridge, noting that the legacy project was his government’s commitment to enhancing transportation for millions of Lagos residents.
Governor Sanwo-Olu, who earlier in the week, alongside the state government officials, met with the President and Management of the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation at its headquarters in Beijing, China, commended CCECC for several roads and bridges they had constructed in different parts of Lagos, saying that the state government would continue to partner with the construction corporation.
“The Fourth Mainland Bridge is one of our legacy projects. We are committed to that project. We want to do that project like yesterday. We have assured Lagosians that this administration is going to do it.
“We are working with your team back in Nigeria to see how best we can start that project as soon as possible. We don’t have all the funding to do it, but we have a lot of pressure from different people. So, if CCECC can help us, we can sit together and try to see how much funding we can both raise and start the project.
“I have to deliver this project. I have only three years to go, and I have to deliver it. You (the President of CCECC) have to help me ensure that we deliver the Fourth Mainland Bridge. It is what we need in the state, and it is something that we want to do. We have been talking about it for a long time, and I want to put it behind me,” the governor said.
“It has to start very soon. I made a commitment before the end of the first quarter; if I can achieve that, I will be very happy.
“I want to break ground, maybe in March or April, to start that project. I will be happy if Mr President of CCECC helps me achieve this. It would be one of my greatest joys as governor of the state,” he added.
Governor Sanwo-Olu, while stressing the need for a continuous relationship between the Lagos State Government and the CCECC for infrastructural development in the state, said Lagos doesn’t see the construction company as a contractor but as a partner.