Abuja: Mr Dave Umahi, the Minister of Works, has announced the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approval for alterations to the scope of several inherited road projects across the country, within available funds. Umahi made this statement while briefing State House Correspondents after the fifth FEC meeting on Monday.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, the first approval was for the 15-kilometer Section One of the Akure-Eta-Ogburu-Ijo-Ekiti border to Ikere-Ado-Ekiti in Ekiti State, which extends into Ondo State. The project will be dualised at a cost of N19.407 billion. The Minister noted that the second project approved by FEC was the rescoping and variation of the 375-kilometer Sokoto road, which runs through Zamfara, Katsina, and Kaduna.
He added that this road, awarded at the end of the last administration, would be dualised and divided into four sections, with the first section being constructed from Sokoto to Zamfara by SKCC using reinforced concrete. The second section of the project, spanning 175 kilometers in the Zamfara axis, was awarded to Setraco at N105 billion. The contract was reviewed and rescoped to 82.4 kilometers, plus six bridges, for the same contract sum of N105 billion.
He also referenced another similar project, the 105-kilometer Maiduguri-Mongonu Road in Borno, awarded on July 3, 2018. Phase one, which covers 30 kilometers, has a contract sum of N21 billion. The second phase will commence once the first section is completed and will be brought before FEC. The Council also approved the rehabilitation of the Chamnuman section of the Gombe-Yola Road in Adamawa, which has been rescoped into phases. The first phase was awarded at N9.253 billion in favour of CGC.