The Nigerian Minister of Works, David Umahi has inspected the Toll Plaza at Garaku, Nasarawa State a few days after the commencement of toll collection on the road.
He directed the concessionaire of the Abuja-Akwanga-Lafia-Makurdi Expressway, Messrs China Harbour Operations and Maintenance Company (CHOMC) to immediately improve the speed of toll collection on that route to reduce stress on Nigerians.
The Minister also directed the CHOMC to increase the number of collection points and deploy more Point-of-Sale (POS) devices, as well as relief stations for public pleasure and convenience.
“The tollgate is not meant to have this kind of bottleneck.
“The current operation is inadequate, and we are giving the Concessionaire until Monday to make the necessary improvements. If by then this bottleneck is not resolved, I will release the traffic and replace them,” Umahi warned.
The Works Minister said he would revisit the site on Monday, February 10 to ensure proper compliance.
He further directed that a 14-day Notice of Termination be issued to Messrs China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC), for slow progress of work on the Abuja-Keffi session of the road.
He wondered why the contractors executed only 8.7% of the project inspite of receiving mobilization funds and surpassing 46% of the agreed timeline.
“The people are suffering, and the President is deeply concerned. Contractors cannot continue to mismanage Nigeria’s resources while failing to deliver as agreed. If there is no significant improvement within 14 days, we will take over the job.
“The President has granted the Ministry full authority to terminate any contract where political interests take precedence over performance. China Harbour Engineering Company, in particular, has been issued an ultimatum to complete one full carriageway by April or face termination of the contract.”
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