Kano-Zaria road sections for delivery by early 2023 – FG

The federal government has disclosed that it will deliver section III of the Kano-Zaria road, part of the North-West roads under construction, by the 1st quarter of March 2023.

The Director, Highway Construction and Rehabilitation, Federal Ministry of Works and Housing (FMWH), Mr. Folorunsho Esan, disclosed this during inspection of the project in Kano over the weekend.

The inspection was part of a two-day event which began from the inspection of the 199.50 kilometre  Kaduna-Pamaeguwa-Jos road, which is at 18 percent completion.

Also inspected were the sections II and III, of the Kaduna-Zaria Road and Rehabilitation of 64.600 kilometre Zaria-Gisau-Sokoto-Birnin-Kebbi road, Funtua-Zaria Section.

Speaking at the inspection, Esan expressed satisfaction with the work of the contractor, adding that the project would be delivered according to schedule.

“The section III with a length of 137 kilometres was handed over to contractors on June 26, 2018 and work commenced July 12, 2018, from Daka Tsalle. I’m so impressed with the level of work and even the quality too because if you have not traveled up to this point you will think the contractor is not working, so what I’ve seen so far today I’m so impressed,” Esan said.

Speaking on the challenge of the shoulders of the roads been converted to car wash and parking lots, the director urged those carrying out the acts to desist from it.

He called on law enforcement agents to do their jobs by stopping such people so that the roads could be durable and live up to its expected life span.

Esan added that the length of road handed over and opened to traffic by contractors are right hand side carriageway Kano bound, 60.66 kilometres while  left-hand side carriageway Zaria bound 64.80 kilometres.

On his part, the Project Manager of Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, handlers of the project, Mr. Finn Drosdowski, appealed to all stakeholders to be patient for best results.

“The challenges always comes if you do construction work because you know we close one side of the road, and only the other side is open for the public, so I want to appeal to all stakeholders to bear with us for the inconvenience.

“I can promise like the director said we will finish this road from Zaria to Kano in the first quarter of next year and then the traffic will be released then everybody can enjoy the much wider road,” Drosdowski said.

Also, the North-West roads was the Kano Western By-Pass, which
involves a 26.6 kilometres dual-carriageway, was inspected.

Starting from Naibawa kilometres 10 on the Kano-Kaduna road and ends at Dawanau village kilometres 15 on the Kano-Katsina road. The contract is an extension of dualisation of Kano-Maiduguri road.

The Project manager of Kano Western by-pass, Mr. Roy Hungushi, said the work was in progress but appealed for an extension of the contract to 2024.

“Some of the challenges we face during construction include raining season, high cost of materials and blasting services and delay in SUKUK fund payment,” he said.

The contract sum which was reviewed upward stands at N22,774 billion and the contractor is Messrs Dantata and Sawoe Nig Ltd.