FG approves N38bn road projects in five states

 

The federal government has approved N38.4 billion for the completion of road projects in five states of the country.

 

Briefing state house correspondents after the federal executive council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, Babatunde Fashola, minister of works and housing, said the roads would cut across Benue, Bayelsa, Anambra, Imo and Nasarawa states.

 

He said that all the projects were inherited from previous administrations.

 

“They are not new projects, they are projects that we inherited and we are trying to complete. So essentially they relate to cost revision because of the ages of the contracts and the prices of goods that have changed,” Fashola said.

 

 “The first one was the contract for a 13.5km spur of the road from Onitsha-Owerri road through Okija-Ihembosi-For Ugbor to Ezinifite in Nnewi South Local Government Area of Anambra.

 

“That contract was awarded in 2011 but wasn’t funded until this administration came in so the contractor is asking us to revise the contract by a review of N488, 980, 891 and an additional completion period of six months and the council approved that review of price and the extended completion period.”

 

The minister said the second contract was that of the 20km dualisation of Yenagoa road junction to Kolo, Otuoke and Bayelsa Palm in Bayelsa state.

 

He explained that the contract was awarded in December 2014 on the eve of the tenure of the last administration and it couldn’t even take off because of militancy issues at the time and limited budget provisions.

 

“It is one of the contracts that we have since activated with the sukuk bond. So, the dualisation is progressing but there is some additional work that needs to be done,” he said.

 

“There are also results of further investigations that support a revision of the contract by N7.947 billion and this was approved by the council.’’

 

He said the third contract was for the completion of a road linking Nasarawa and Benue states.

 

 “The third one is the 74 kilometer Nasarawa to Loko Road – that is the road that was awarded, I believe, in 2006, so it’s 15 years today, 74 km and it has not been completed,” Fashola said.

 

“This road links the Loko-Oweto Bridge, which we inherited and which we have completed and that Loko-Oweto Bridge links Nasarawa to Benue, across the River Benue and also connects to the Oweto to Oshogbedo Road, which we also inherited, which we have completed.

 

“The complete lane from Otukpo to Nasarawa ought to be facilitated by this 74km road. The contractor has struggled with just about five kilometres of it since 2006, and a small bridge.

 

“So, what we’ve proposed was that instead of going through the long process of termination and all of that, we proposed and council agreed that the contractor who finished the bridge and the contractor who finished the road, because they were all awarded to different contractors before we came, should join this contractor and take up the remainder.

 

 “So, we’ve limited the contractor who was originally awarded this road to just 10.8, that’s all he will do.

 

“So, we’ve awarded 42 kilometres to the contractor who did the Oshogbedo-Oweto Road and we’ve then awarded 21km, which is the part joining the bridge directly, to the contractor who completed the bridge.

 

“So, all of these totalling a revised project sum of about N30 billion, shared amongst the three contractors.”

 

The minister noted that the completion of the road would also save travel time for its users, especially those travelling from Otukpo in Benue to Abuja.

 

 “This is strategic also for providing prosperity, lifting people out of poverty because if the saying that time is money is true, everybody who saves three hours has three hours’ extra productivity and also consumes three hours less fuel and travel time and so on.

 

“So, council approved this memo and we hope that sometime next year we can complete that linkage.

 

“But as you know, those of you who went with me, commuters are already using the road despite that path not being complete.”