The Federal Executive Council presided over by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) has approved ₦38.4 billion for the completion of road projects in five states.
The road projects which were inherited from past administrations are located in Anambra, Bayelsa, Benue, Imo, and Nasarawa.
Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, disclosed this while briefing State House Correspondents at the end of Wednesday’s Council meeting.
According to Fashola, “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.
“So, the first one was the contract for a 13.5-kilometre spur of the road from Onitsha-Owerri Road through Okija-Ihembosi-For Ugbor to Ezinifite in Nnewi South Local Government Area of Anambra State. 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 ₦488,980,891 and an additional completion period of six months and the council approved that review of price and the extended completion period.”
The Minister said Council also approved a contract for the completion of a 20-kilometre road in Bayelsa State.
He said, “The Second one is the 20-kilometre dualisation of Yenagoa road junction to Kolo and Otuoke and Bayelsa Palm in Bayelsa State. That 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 also very limited budget provisions.
It is one of the contracts that we have since activated with the Sukuk Bond. So, the dualization is progressing but there is some additional work that needs to be done. There are also results of further investigations that support a revision of the contract by ₦7.947 billion and this was approved by the council.”
Fashola said the third contract was for the completion of a road linking Nasarawa and Benue States, Central Nigeria.
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