By Daniel Tyokua
The Minister of Works, David Umahi has called for geo technical review of Abuja-Kaduna road and assured that the road will be completed 2024.
He disclosed this during a meeting with Directors of the ministry in Abuja on Thursday.
Wike also ordered the review of agreements to include minimum equipment and personnel on site for any road project.
He said with proper pricing, available resources will be able to deliver good roads to Nigerians.
“There is a need to review our project costs. I am a bit indifferent to our project costs because when we give the right costing to a project. look at the struggles and the debt Nigeria is into, If we give the right pricing to a project then the major resources we will be able to go a long way.
“We have to review things that are so disadvantageous to our road construction. we have to look at it. people come and get contracts and say there is Boko Haram or unknown gunmen there and then keep the money. There are terrible delays on site and we have to stop that”.
Wike however, identified bad materials, bad construction methods and poor supervision as major challenges to road projects.
He said some contractors do not mean well for the country always looking for ways to take money without delivering projects hence,the need for the ministry to ensure strict supervision.
According to him, the federal government has released N150bn from the 2023 appropriation budget which is expected to close in March, ” it is enough to utilise the budget but if we can’t claim this money due to bureaucracy and people not doing what they are supposed to do then which mouth do we have to say Ministry of Works is not funded?
“There is no hour I don’t get over 10 calls because nobody has collected the contract paper and it wasn’t known to me even the bill of quantities is not ready for the contractors to begin work. The palliative work is a very big test case for us” he said.
“I am pleased to announce that 50 per cent of the palliative works for the year 2023 have been released to the ministry. The pressure is already on me and that’s why I even had to resume early” he said
