Bwari: Commuters decry slow pace of Dutse-Alhaji road expansion

By Stanley Onyekwere

Some commuters traversing the ever busy Dutse Alhaji road, in Bwari Area Council of the the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have decried the slow pace of expansion works on the road road, as they daily face untold hardship.
Lamenting the lost of job man-hours while plying the road, they therefore, urge the FCT authorities to hasten up the project and ease traffic gridlock on the road.
Recall that the road expansion works awarded by the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) to Setraco Construction Company (SCC), as part of efforts to reduce daily traffic gridlock on that road axis leading to Bwari town of Abuja.
A resident of Bwari , Mr. Johnson Bello inform The Guardian that residents along the road leaves home to work by 5,300am daily to enable them get to their work places in Abuja city centre to avoid the perennial traffic gridlock.
Also commenting, a Driver, Alhaji Ismaila Murktar told the that they do not only face severe gridlock but also experience daily extortion by traffic officers.
He said, ‘’There is no doubt that the FCT administration is even helping us by expanding the road but we are begging them to hasten the completion of this road.
In a subtle reaction on behalf of the Administration, the Chairman, FCT Ministerial Task Team on decongestion of traffic, Comrade Ikharo Attah appealed to residents for understanding.
Attah, who spoke to newsmen while inspecting the road expressed confidence that very soon, the job will be delivered.
According to him: “Without mincing words, am very confident that this work will be delivered in the next two months but we shall continue to appeal to residents to be a little patient and show understanding as all the FCT efforts is aimed at relieving your burdens from this unwarranted gridlock.
‘’We believe that the security officers would be very much on ground to ensure a free flow of traffic through out this hard periods, we are appealing to all motorists and commuters to please bare with the administration for the pains because it is for this reason the FCT Ministers and Permanent Secretary decided to expand this stretch of the road’’.
On his part, the FCDA representative, Engr. Bayo Baderiwa, gave the assurance that the company will deliver good job and meet the two months target as the contractor and FCDA authority would be on ground day and knight.
Similarly, the Assistant Corps Unit Commander, Duste Alhaji of Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Aderonke Dele opined that the major problem they have in hand is the refusal of niform men to obey traffic rules and guidelines.
‘’We are capable of easying the traffic here despite the ongoing road expansion works but most uniform officers driving along this road usually follow one way, this is not good enough’’, she stressed.