Funso Adebiyi, the Director Highways Construction and Rehabilitation, Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, said the ongoing reconstruction of Abuja-Kaduna-Kano road will be completed before the end of 2023.
Mr Adebiyi disclosed this while inspecting the project on Friday in Kano to assess the progress of work done so far.
“The ongoing reconstruction work on the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano road project has been progressing appreciably and would be completed in the life of this administration.
“We are satisfied with the quality of work going on and we are working to increase the pace of work.
“You can see that work is going on simultaneously on all sections of both lanes of the dual carriage 375 kilometers road from Abuja-Kaduna- Kano,’’ he said.
The Director appealed to Nigerians to be patient with the government in its commitment to deliver a qualitative work that would stand the test of time.
He also appealed to road users to bear the discomfort being experienced daily dues blockades and diversions.
“We have made a lot of progress. Because more than 100 kilometres, though not at a stretch, have been completed under section one to three (Abuja-Kano),’’ he said.
He said 40kms have also been completed under section two (Kaduna-Zaria), and 70kms completed under section three (Zaria-Kano).
“While some sections of the road are also at different levels of completion, palliative/remedial work are being carried out on the sections that are critically bad to facilitate ease of passage for motorists.
“It is important that I correct the wrong impression by the people that work is not moving.
“We are working to meet up with the deadline and at the same time subjecting all the work to quality assurance test to deliver a good job,’’ he said.
He assured Nigerians of the commitment of the government to complete the work, saying that government was desirous of completing the project.
Mr Adebiyi said that the ministry had demonstrated a strong passion for the project and others across the country to fulfill President Muhammadu Buhari’s promise of bridging the infrastructure gap in the country.
He urged the contractor to increase the pace of work by deploying more men on site to work simultaneously on both lanes.
The project was awarded to Julius Berger Nigeria Plc on Dec. 20, 2017, while work commenced on May 21, 2018 on the proposed 36 months’ completion date.
