FG needs N900bn for rehabilitation of federal roads

Abubakar Magaji, Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, says the sum of N900 billion is required for rehabilitation of major federal roads.

The roads are: Lagos-Ibadan, Enugu-Port Harcourt, Enugu Onitsha,Lokoja-Abuja, Kano-Maiduguri and Second Niger Bridge, among others.

Magaji who disclosed this during an interactive session with members of the House of Representatives committee on works chaired by Toby Okechukwu (PDP-Enugu), expressed concern over the N300 billion owed the contractors.

He also assured that the ministry intends to work on at least two major roads linking state capitals in 2016.

The permanent secretary however observed that the ongoing road projects are “so many that we can’t finish them in one or two years.”

He noted that from the sum of N100 billion allocated for road projects in the ministry in the 2015 Appropriation Act, about N18 billion was released for the same purpose.

While responding to questions on the status of some federal roads in the northern parts of the federation, Magaji, who was recently posted to the ministry, noted that meagre sum of money were provided for these roads in the 2015 budget.

He expressed concern over inadequate budgetary provisions for projects, however assuring that the ministry would pay adequate attention to them in the 2016 budget.

Some of the lawmakers who spoke at the event, expressed displeasure over the status of major road projects including Bida-Pategi, Jeba-Mokwa and Sokoto-Kontagora-Makera, among others.

Ibrahim Mahuta (APC-Katsina) noted that while the ministry was complaining of funds, it embarked on engineering designs out of the little resources allocated for the project, instead of mobilising contractors to site.

KEHINDE AKINTOLA