In
an effort towards ensuring safety, enhancing socio-economic activities
and reducing road accident, Niger State Governor, Alhaji Abubakar
Sani Bello has pleaded with the Federal Government to complete the
abandoned dualisation of Suleja-Minna Road.
Governor
Sani Bello made the plea during an inspection visit and interaction
with key officers of the Company handling the project, Salini Nigeria
Limited, and stakeholders , at a failed section of the road at Bonu
Village in Gurara Local Government Area of the State.
The
Governor who expressed concern over the present condition of the road
which is a Federal road, said something urgent needed to be done to
address the situation.
He
explained that the state Government has made several effort in
maintaining the road but did not yield the desired result due to volume
of traffic, heavy duty vehicles and lack of routine maintenance of the
road since it was constructed over two decades ago.
"Even
though , it is a federal road, we have tried as a state Government to
fix it. Indeed, I directed continuous maintenance of the road, but due
to high volume of traffic, heavy duty vehicles and age of the road, it
didn’t last long. It is clear that considering the strategic importance
of the road, the final solution is for the federal government to
complete the dualisation project started over 6 years ago. " the
Governor appealed .
"it
is absolutely necessary that Federal government through ministry of
works intervene as a matter of priority. Ordinarily the journey from
Minna to Abuja which is about 1 hour 30 minutes, now takes over 3
hours resulting in discomfort, and waste of human resources. "
Governor
Sani Bello therefore appealed to the Federal Government to expedient
action through adequate budgetary allocation to enable the contractor
complete the road in record time.
Earlier
in his explanation, the Project Manager, Engr Paolo Campanella
disclosed that inadequate funding was responsible for slow pace of work
adding that only 20per cent has been released for the project since it
started .
“The
project is suffering inadequate budgetary provision. Only 20 percent
of funds have so far been released. The total cost of the project Phase I
and Phase II, is N34 billion naira, but in six years only N6 billion
naira was released which is inadequate.”
The
project manager who expressed delight over the interest shown by
Governor Sani Bello revealed that the project was designed to be
completed in 3years.
"This is a project of 30
months duration. Phase I was awarded at end of 2010 and suppose to be
completed in July, 2013 now the time has elapsed redoubling the contract
period". Phase II, was awarded in February 2015, although, there was
no mobilisation to kick-start the work and largely due to the
outstanding debt we have in phase I, we couldn’t go ahead with the
project.”
In their remarks, former caretaker
Chairman , Gurara local Government, Alhaji Yakubu Garba, and District
Head of Bonu, Alhaji Ibrahim Baba Shaba appreciated and applauded
Governor Sani Bello for maintaining the road and assured of him their
support to government policies and programmes.
Even
though, about 70 per cent of Federal Capital Territory,FCT, was carved
out of Niger state, it is the only state close to FCT which has not
been linked by dual carriage way. Kaduna, Nasarawa and Kogi have all
been linked to the FCT by dual carriage way.
Jibrin Baba Ndace
Chief Press Secretary
18th September 2016
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