The House of Representatives Committee on Works has summoned the Permanent Secretary, Director (Highways) Planning and Development, and Director (Highways) Construction and Rehabilitation, Federal Ministry of Works & Housing as well as Messer Julius Berger to appear on Wednesday and brief it on the ongoing Abuja-Kaduna- Zaria-Kano road project.
Abubakar Kabir-Abubakar, Chairman House Committee on Works who issued the summon on Sunday said the Committee is being inundated with complaints by well-meaning Nigerians travelling on the corridor.
Abubakar noted that the ongoing rehabilitation and dualization of the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano highway is causing untold hardship to motorists and other road users plying the road.
He stressed that the partial closure of some sections of the road has caused enormous financial and labour time losses due to road traffic congestion and long hours spent on the road.
The Chairman in a statement he personally signed and made available to newsmen in Abuja observed that the quality of life of people making those commutes has started to decline as a journey that would normally take four hours now takes nine hours to complete.
He called on the construction company working on the road to expedite work on the project so as to complete it in time and to immediately open up closed sections of the road that they have completed to motorists so as to reduce the long hours spent traveling on the road.
“We are also calling on the relevant authorities such as the Federal Road Safety Commission and the Nigerian Police Force to provide adequate security and ensure that motorists drive within the maximum speed limit of 50Km per hour as prescribed by the National Road Traffic Regulation, 2012, as the maximum speed allowed at construction zones. They are to ensure that motorists observe lane discipline and avoid driving against traffic”, Abubakar added.
James Kwen, Abuja
