The ongoing reconstruction work on the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano road project has been progressing appreciably and will be completed before the end of 2023.
The Director Highways Construction and Rehabilitation in the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, Funso Adebiyi, stated this during the ongoing visit to the project site to assess the progress of work on the project.
“We are satisfied with the quality of work going on and we are working to increase the pace of the work. You can see that work is going on simultaneously on all sections of both lanes of the dual carriage 375km longroad from Abuja-Kaduna- Kano,” he said.
Adebiyi explained that the work was initially for rehabilitation but now full reconstruction work is ongoing. He appealed to Nigerians to be patient with the government in it’s commitment to deliver a qualitative work that would stand the test of time.
Similarly, he also appealed to the road users to bear the discomfort being experienced everyday as a result of blockages and diversions, saying ”it is a necessary action in a construction work of such magnitude above all on such busy road with high traffic volume and axle load.”
On the level of work done so far, Adebiyi said; ” we have made a lot of progress. You can see that over 100km though not at a stretch, have been completed under section one to three (Abuja-Kano) , 40km completed under section two (Kaduna-Zaria), and 70km 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.”
Reacting to the allegation of delayed work, Adebiyi said; “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 assured Nigerians of the commitment of the government to completing the work. ” Government is desirous of completing this project , as such is not leaving anything to chance, that is why we are here regularly tracking the progress of work with a view to sorting out any identified challenges.”
Adebiyi stated that the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola, and the Minister of State, Aliyu D Abubarkar had demonstrated a strong passion to this project and others across the country, to ensure the fulfillment of President Muhammadu Buhari’s promise of bridging infrastructure gap in the country.
On the speed of work on the road, the Director Bridges and Design, Emmanuel Adeoye urged the contractor to increase the pace of work by deploying more men on sites to work simultaneously on both lanes.
The team of engineers in the Ministry led by the Director Highways Construction and Rehabilitation, Adebiyi were on a routine assessment inspection of the various ongoing road projects across the country, to ensure quality work delivery and meeting the completion deadline
The team carried out an engineering measurement and evaluation of some key components in road construction among others ; storm water drainages, shoulders, right of way, concrete slabs, U-turns, culverts reinforcement pipes.
The Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano road reconstruction project was awarded to Julius Berger Nigeria Plc on 20th December, 2017 and the project commenced on 21st May, 2018 with the 36 months completion period.
PR/Mercy Chukwudiebere
