FG Committed to Building Quality Roads - Fashola Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola SAN has reiterated the commitment of the Federal Government in providing quality road infrastructure across the nation. The Minister stated this during an inspection visit to the sections I and II of the ongoing dualisation/expansion of Abuja–Keffi– Akwanga road construction project Fashola was in company of the Honourable Minister of State for Works and Housing Engr. Abubakar Aliyu during the inspection. He said that the quality of road construction across the nation cannot be compromised as the Ministry had the manpower and the technical know-how to build good road of international standard. The Minister noted that all the nation’s highway projects are critical and strategic, describing the Akwanga-Makurdi road, linking the north central and north east as strategic and as such the Federal Government is doing all that is possible to complete it to standard and not rushing them to avoid shabby work. “The essence is to make life better for the people, ease traffic flow for the commuters and promote economic activities of the citizens" he stated Fashola explained that a lot of activities are involved in road construction, such as excavation, cutting down of trees, relocation of existing structures to have clear access for construction. He explained that during the road construction citizens' rights are highly considered and their right of ownership protected in terms of compensation and related matters “We respect human activities along the road, we have to meet them, talk to them and agree with them. We have to remove electrical installations and all that for our work to move on “he said. Earlier, the Project Consultant informed the Minister that they have made a lot of progress with an aggregate of 45.8 percent completion of work in Section I (Abuja-Keffi) and 41percent completion in section II (Keffi-Akwanga). Breaking down the work progress, the Consultant stated that, 90 percent has been achieved in the construction of culverts and drainages, 60 percent attained in bridges and 40 percent in the pavement construction. He also listed: relocation of utilities (telecom, water & electricity), compensation, Covid-19 lockdown and outstanding payment as part of their challenges. In his contribution, the Federal Controller of Works, Nasarawa State, Engr. Daikwo told the Ministers that the progress of work on the road is encouraging even as the Covid-19 lockdown had affected its progress. He informed the Ministers that the land acquisition and compensation process is at an advanced stage, while relocation of existing services away from the proposed road corridor is still pending and requires client action. The 220km Abuja- Keffi-Akwanga-Lafia- Makurdi road project is 85% funded by the Chinese Export-Import Bank and 15% counterpart fund from the Federal Government which is a budget issue. “For those who have issues with the borrowing, they can now come and see what it has done. All the people who work here would probably not have work to do if not for the borrowing" Fashola said. The Project is being implemented by the Road Sector Development Team (RSDT) Unit of the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing   ...

*“Stop the abuse of roads”, FG appeals to road users.* The Federal Government has appealed to road users to stop the misuse of roads as it threatens their safety and leads to unnecessary loss of lives and properties. The Director of Highway Construction and Rehabilitation in the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, Engineer Funsho  Adebiyi  made this appeal while speaking to some correspondents in  Abuja on the  state of federal roads. Adebiyi speaking specifically on the Enugu - Onitsha expressway complained that drivers were using  pavements of the highways which are being mistaken for a third lane while heavy duty trucks park on them sometimes for days to carry out maintenance work and change diesel thereby pouring some on the roads, a practice which he described as a threat to the safety and life span of the roads. Engineer Adebiyi said, “The Heavy duty trucks park on the shoulders of the road and carry out maintenance work thereby spoiling it. The parking on the road is a threat to the safety of our roads, in addition our people still over speed.” The Director pointed out that from the reports of the Federal Road Safety Commission reckless driving accounts for about 35% of road accidents while bad roads account for only 1.3%. Engineer Adebiyi said when the roads were bad people were clamouring for the repairs but now that they are being fixed over speeding, overloading and reckless driving have become threats to life. The Director also spoke on the misconception by some members of the public that the Umuomi  - Awka road in Anambra State  was a  3 carriageway. He explained that what makes it look like a 3 carriageway was the pavement which had been redesigned to strengthen the shoulders of the road into hard core due to heavy duty trucks plying the road. Engineer Adebiyi said “Because of the heavy duty trucks  that pass there we now redesigned the pavement so that the shoulders are now hard core.” "They are designed to carry the same weight as the 2 carriageway." He further said, “What we have in the current situation is that the drivers now run on the shoulder but as they approach the flyover, it closes down into 2 lanes, they don’t realize that what they were using was not actually a carriageway but a shoulder and erroneously conclude that the Engineers were reducing the width of the road to 2 instead of 3 carriageways.” The Director who also noted that people were complaining that the pavement was not marked said binders are not marked until pavement is completed just as a house is not painted until plastering is done. He explained further that the reason why the pavement is opened  for use even as work is yet to be completed is to ensure smooth traffic flow and test running of the under laying materials while using it so that if there is any error it would be detected and promptly corrected while the engineers were still there. He disclosed that the Ministry was taking steps to do the shoulder markings, adding that a mini speed breaker would also be put in place to check over speeding. Engineer Adebiyi  said that the Federal Ministry of Works and Housig had projects in virtually every section of the trunk A roads which run across the country with Engineers in each of the sections working simultaneously. He added that every state of the Federation had a Federal Controller of Works who reports to the Zonal Controller who in turn reports to him, adding that the structure allows  steady delivery of work. ...

We Allocate Sukuk Road Funds Equally Among Zones -FG The Permanent Secretary of Works and Housing, Mr. Babangida Hussaini, has stated that allocation of funds under the SUKUK Roads Funding is done equally across zones. The Permanent Secretary spoke through Engr. Funso Adebiyi, the Director in charge of Highways Construction in the ministry during an interactive session with the media while on a routine inspection of Dualization of Suleja-Minna Road and Construction of Lambata-Lapai-Bida Road in Niger State, yesterday. The statement was a reaction to correct insinuations that the Federal Government was spending more money on projects in the North than in the South. He explained that variety of factors were involved in the construction of a road to determine the cost, among which are: level of deterioration before the intervention, topography of road alignment, soil texture of the area, the water table, the nearness to borrowed construction materials and the cost of haulage. ‘All these had costs implications on road construction’ he said. Explaining further, he disclosed that the SUKUK assisted funding was shared equally across the geopolitical zones. “The amount provided for South-West was the same for the North-West but the length of kilometres you would cover with that same amount in North-west was by far more than if it were in the South-South. The landmass up North is by far more than what is in the South and these are factors that determine the cost of road construction’ “Government is not biased, we are doing our best”, he added. On the Suleja-Lambata-Minna road, Engr. Adebiyi said the road was an important route linking part of the North-Central and North-West zones of the country to the Federal Capital Territory and also links to Abuja/Kaduna highway at Dikko Lambata. Accordingly, he said the road also linked to one of the Trunk ‘A’ roads and a major haulage for petroleum products, farming and other commercial activities. He expressed satisfaction at the level and standard of work so far on the Suleja-Minna road which has reached 80% completion while 20% completion was achieved for the newly awarded Lambata-Lapai-Bida road. He pointed out that with favourable weather, the contractors would achieve more progress on the work to meet up with the schedule. On palliatives, Engr Adebiyi stated that it is part of the component of this project to make the road motorable, while the project was going on and this he said cuts across all the ongoing projects simultaneously in the nation. The Project Manager of Salini Nigeria Limited in charge of Suleja-Minna road dualization, Daniel Kassa informed the inspection team that Phase I of the project was at 82% completion while Phase II, has recorded 20% completion; the remaining work was progressing. Kassa disclosed that they have a target to complete Phase I, Dikko Interchange and another 4km from km 33 to 77 including its asphalting work while in Phase II, they still have 3km to be completed and another 4km ahead to catch up with before the rains come. Subsequently, the Lambata-Lapai-Bida road Project Manager of CGC Nigeria Limited Mr. Tang Pengwen, said that CGC was determined to complete the project successfully and provide good road network for the Ministry and the nation as a whole. “This is a 124.8km stretch of single carriage way but double lane project. We are reconstructing a relatively new road awarded in 2018 to be completed in 2022. We have achieved 20% completion, 30km is already asphalted and a few other kilometers are going through reconstruction process. Plans are underway to complete another 15km” he said. ...