The Minister of Works, David Umahi, has said the government is constructing the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway at a total cost of N4bn per kilometre and not the N8bn per km reportedly claimed by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.

This indicates that the total project will be completed at the cost of N2.8trn.

The minister also dismissed claims that the project didn’t follow the due procurement process, stating that the contract was awarded on a counter-funding basis and not on a Public-Private Partnership as widely claimed.

Umahi disclosed this information when he appeared as a guest on the Television Continental News Hour programme on Wednesday in Lagos.

Last week, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2023 general election, Atiku Abubakar, questioned President Bola Tinubu administration’s decision to allegedly award the contract to Gilbert Chagoury’s Hitech without competitive bidding, daring the president to disclose the full cost of the Lagos-Calabar highway project.