The Project Manager, China Global Company Nigeria Limited, Mr. Chen Xian, contractor handling the Bida-Lapai-Lambata highway, has assured that the project would be completed and delivered by December, 2022.
Xian spoke over the weekend when the Director Highways, Construction and Rehabilitation, Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, Engr. Folorunso Esan, visited the project site.
He revealed that the federal government had fully mobilized his company to the site but lamented that the scarcity of water was currently a hindrance to the progress of their work with the onset of dry season.
The project manager, however, assured road users that the troubled spots would have been worked upon before the rainy season because a means of supplying water to the site would be found.
The length of the road is 124.81kms which commenced from Lambata town passing through Lapai – Agaie and terminating at Bida.
The Federal Controller of Works, Niger State, Engineer Samotu Moshood, explained that 46kms amounting to 36 percent of the work have been completed and before the rainy season commences, the work is projected to have extended to Lapai which would be additional 60kms, and the extension would continue to Agaie, another 80kms before the end of the year 2022.
“The construction of the road is very imperative to link the Bida-Mokwa section already completed under the World Bank due to the importance of the segment of the federal highway being a major link for vehicular traffic from the South West to the North Central part of the country and beyond,” he said.
Speaking during the inspection, the Director Highways, Construction and Rehabilitation, reiterated the commitment of the federal government to ensure that all the roads financed under the NNPC Tax Credit Scheme are completed and delivered as scheduled.
Esan, who also visited Suleja-Minna dualization road, said adequate funds have been released to the contractors through the governance process established to ensure prompt delivery of road projects, adding that no contractor has any reason not to deliver as scheduled.
He disclosed that the inspection team was on sites to prevail on the contractors to accelerate the speed of their work to ensure early completion and delivery of the roads as they are major road networks with heavy traffic flow in the North Central region connecting towns and cities within the region, South Western states and other regions in Nigeria.
The Director, while expressing satisfaction about the volume of work done on the sites, said the ministry would carry out appropriate tests to determine
the quality and durability of construction work on roads to ensure compliance with acceptable standards.
He pleaded with road users especially truck drivers to be patient with the government and construction workers as they ply the roads while construction work is going on because managing traffic and doing construction work on the roads is bound to slow down the pace of work, assuring them that the challenged spots would be taken care of to address the outcry of tanker and truck drivers.
