The Federal Government says it has reached the final stage of handing over the 87-kilometer Koko-Mahuta-Dabai-Zuru road to the Kebbi Government for reconstruction.
Mr Ishaya Vandi-Joseph, Federal Controller Works, Kebbi Field Office, disclosed this during a joint assessment tour of the project site by the representatives of the federal and state governments and the contractors.
The contract was initially awarded to Great Northern Internation Company Limited on 15 December 2020, at the cost of N19,713,629,715:77K.
Vandi-Joseph recalled the scope of the project comprised scarification of the existing surfacing, sub-base and stone base, binder wiring cost, and other road furniture.
He, however, said due to trying conditions of funding, the project suffered some delay in its completion.
In view of this delay and considering the importance of the road, the state government followed due processes through the Federal Ministry of Works to take over the project.
“Therefore, a delegate was sent from the ministry to come and assess the level of work done by the Great Northern International Company Limited.
“At the end of this very meeting, a report will be presented to the Minister of Works so that the Kebbi Government can take over and continue with the work,” he said.
Responding, Gov. Nasir Idris of Kebbi, represented by the Speaker of the Kebbi House of Assembly, Alhaji Muhammad Usman-Zuru commended the federal government for taking a bold step to hand over the project to the state.
The Governor said: “This is what we have been expecting ever since. The state government will take ownership of the project and ensure quality jobs with speedy completion.”
While describing the road as one of the most important in the state, the governor said he had been shuttling Abuja-Kebbi to ensure that the state government took over the project.
He said today’s occasion was in fulfillment of the minister of works’ directives that a delegation would come and assess the level of work done by the contractors as a last lap to the final handover of the project to the state government.
Idris said: “Today signals the last meeting with the company handling this project but if the company is interested in this project, it can now join other contractors to bid for the same contract.”
On his part, Abdullahi Faruq-Muslim, Commissioner for Works in the state, said about seven local government areas depended on the road for their day-to-day activities.
“Though the road is a federal government road so long as it is in Kebbi, it belongs to the Kebbi government because it’s the Kebbi people that will benefit from it. Moreso, this road is the agricultural hub of the state.
“We are going to measure the work done by this contractor meter by meter, inch by inch, after the measurement then the minister of works will announce the revocation of the contract,” he said.
Mr Li Lu Kuan attributed the delay in the completion of the project to the high rate of inflation in the country a the insecurity situation in the area.
