By Alice Etuka, Abuja
The Minister of Works, Engr. David Umahi has directed the Ministry’s technical team to evaluate the damage caused by flood on a section of the Kano-Maiduguri road and report back for the Ministry to procure an emergency solution.
Spokesperson to the Minister, Barr. Orji Uchenna disclosed this in a statement issued on Saturday, August 10, 2024.
TheFact Daily gathered that the Kano-Maiduguri Federal road passing through Malori-Guskuri community in Katsgun Local Government Area of Bauchi State split in two due to flood after a heavy downpour.
Umahi who sympathised with the Governor of Bauchi State and the affected community stated, “I’m directing the Director of Highway Rehabilitation to liaise with the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Works to immediately deploy some technical people to go and evaluate what we can do over there and it’s very unfortunate that when a job is completed by contractors, we don’t even enjoy the road for five years, and we are back to square one.
“That’s why I’ve been saying that this issue of a one-year liability period is not desirable because every badly executed job can last for one year, but it can not last for five years. So we are still going to request the contractor that did the job, Mothercart Ltd, to join that team and find out why the road had to cut into two as reported to us today, and that is section three of Kano-Maiduguri road”.
He further said plans were underway to review the liability period for all federal government projects to ensure durability and value for money.
The Minister also announced the termination of section 1 of Kano-Maiduguri road awarded since 2007 to Dantata & Sawoe Ltd due to effluxion of time.
He highlighted the progress made so far in funding critical projects under the Tax Credit Scheme and called for more concerted efforts by all contractors handling projects under the scheme to complete all the awarded projects in record time.
The Minister listed projects under the Scheme to include: Dangote – the 35 km Apapa-Owonronshoki Expressway in Lagos State, the 38 km section of Abuja-Kaduna-Kano road dualisation, the 49.577km Dikwa-Gamboru-Ngala road, Borno State, the construction of Nnamdi Azikiwe road (western bypass) in Kaduna State, the 49.153 km Bama – Banki road in Borno State, the reconstruction of 105km Obelle-Ilaro-Papalanto-Shagamu Road dualization, the reconstruction of 54.239km Deep Seaport in Lagos State, the 65.5 km Afikpo-Okigwe road in Ebonyi and Imo States among others.
