The Federal Government has disclosed that it would only repay states that embark on trunk ‘A’ roads construction after such road projects reached 75-80℅ completion.
It added that out of the over 500 roads construction projects going on across the country, the FG decided to prioritise projects that have reached 80℅ completion due to paucity of fund and to reduce numbers of abandoned roads projects.
This was disclosed by the Minister of State for Works, Engineer Abubakar Aliyu during a visit to Osun state Governor, Adegboyega Oyetola in his office after an inspection tour of federal government roads projects under construction by the Osun State Government during the weekend.
He said the FG sets up a committee to verify and report progress on projects being executed by five states in the country, which includes Osun, Ondo, Rivers, Bayelsa and Cross River states.
He stated that the essence of the visit was to verify the progress of work done and its quality with a view to ensuring that projects were executed in line with specifications.
The Minister assured Nigerians that President Muhammadu Buhari is committed to ensuring the development of road infrastructure across the country, adding that the administration needed the support and understanding of Nigerians to deliver on its promises.
We are currently working on over 500 roads projects simultaneously across the country. We realise there are many roads going on, hence, we decided to prioritise the roads that are 75-80℅ completions for this year. We believe by next years, other roads would have reached the same level.
President Buhari is committed to bringing our roads to life. They have been abandoned for a long time. The fund allocated for roads in the 2015 budget is so small compared to ones we have done about N19 bn was voted for roads in the whole country. But from 2016 that we came in it is about N300bn on the average.
We are here to verify trunk A roads. it is actually FG roads which some stated took over to construct, some were while others are still under construction. The ones in Osun are still ongoing. Other states are Ondo, Rivers, Bayelsa and Cross River. We have the records but we decided to come and see the extent and quality of work done.
We examined the Gbongan-Osogbo, which we take to this place and is about 30℅ completion. It is well constructed. We stop at the interchange and the work was done well”, he said.
Speaking on the need to adopt maintenance culture, the Minister said the major problem with roads in the country is lack of maintenance by successive administration, saying most of the roads in the country have been without maintenance for 30-40 years.
He added that the FG would soon deploy weighbridges on its roads to check pressure unleashed on roads by truck and other heavy-duty vehicles.
In his reaction, Gov. Oyetola stressed the need for the federal government to declare state of emergency on Nigerian roads, saying the situation is just very pathetic across the country.
He urged the FG to devise alternative means of financing road projects, saying it is time to explore the private-public partnership approach as government does not have the fund to execute road projects anymore.
The governor commended the FG for embarking on the verification tour to ensure that government get value for its money and ensure that contractors do not cut corners.
My predecessor did a lot on road construction, still, it looks like we didn’t do anything. There is still more to do.
Road is like other things that need servicing. We must do maintenance and we don’t have that culture in Nigeria. We must ensure roads are done in accordance with specifications. Government officials must monitor to ensure contractor don’t cut corners.
We thank the FG for support to the state on the construction of Iwo-Osogbo road, as well as Ife-mayfair-Ilesa road and Ilesa-Ife expressway”, Oyetola added.
Vanguard Nigeria News
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