The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has threatened to sanction the contractor in charge of the Apo-Karshi road project in Abuja if work is not completed on time.
Comrade Ogwuebu Francis, Coordinator, Satellite Towns Development Department STDD, issued the threat during a press conference on Saturday.
Francis, on the other hand, praised the progress of work at the Karshi Dam project site.
The coordinator, who was on a project inspection tour of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) satellite town area, expressed concern about the attitude of some contractors, who were delaying the completion of projects that were very important to the people.
He chastised the contractor in charge of the Karshi-Apo road, claiming that there was no reason for him to delay the project’s completion because the government had done its part.
According to him, the final payment tranche has already been processed and will be deposited into the contractor’s account at any time.
He described the Apo-Karshi road as one of
President Muhammad Buhari’s legacy projects that should be given the necessary priority by ensuring timely completion.
He explained that when completed, the Karshi road would help decongest traffic on the Asokoro-Keffi road by providing people living in Nyanya, Karu, Jikwoyi, Gida Daya, and Orozo with an alternative and easy access to town.
He warned land grabbers in the Gida Daya community not to encroach on the proposed Nyanya relocation site because development control bulldozers would soon be moved to the area to correct the anomaly caused by illegal occupants.
Previously, Kakatar Engineering Limited, the road project’s contractor, informed the STDD inspection team that the project “has already attained 89 percent completion” and promised to complete the remaining 11 percent within five months.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the 13.25-kilometer Apo-Karshi road project was conceived as an alternative route to alleviate the daily gridlock experienced by workers and people driving to the capital city from the Mararaba-Nyanya axis.
The project was delayed due to a design flaw, which caused a massive rock outcrop on the road corridor’s alignment to become extremely difficult to deal with.