• Says roads are impactful projects
By Stanley Onyekwere
There is a sigh of relief for residents of Abuja, following the directive of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Barrister Nyesom Wike, for the immediate disbursement of 50 per cent of the 100 billion Naira in supplementary budget for capital projects in the FCT.
Wike, explained that his directive to the FCT Administration’s Permanent Secretary, was because of the approval gotten from Ministry of Finance for the said 50 per cent of the fund captured in the 2023 supplementary budget for implement capital projects in the FCT.
He disclosed this yesterday while addressing newsmen, after completing an inspection tour of three ongoing major road projects as well as the residence of the Vice President in the FCT.
Recall that the Minister had stated that the projects were intended to mark the first year in office of the President, Bola Tinubu, while giving the contractors a deadline of May 24, 2024.
He said: “I am happy to announce to you that the Ministry of Finance has released 50 per cent of the national supplementary budget, as approved by the National Assembly is N100 billion and 50 per cent of the amount has been released which is N50 billion.
“That in a way, has given us that hope that the contractors will be paid anytime from now.
“This afternoon when I went to the office, I have directed the Permanent Secretary that immediate payment should be made to the companies carrying out project in FCT.”
He adds: “We have also gotten assent to the FCT Statutory Budget, which again, has given us hope that no project will be left uncompleted as promised.
“As you can see, these are quality projects, which we are very satisfied with.
“We believe that the arrangements made by the contractors will enable us to commission the projects to celebrate Mr President’s one year in office.”
Wike, who also commended the quality of the various projects, assured residents of the FCT that all promises made towards the completion of the projects would be fulfilled.
“I am sure residents of Abuja have seen the difference that no promise made would not be fulfilled. All promises made will be fulfilled. And we also want to commend the residents of Abuja for the support they are giving to us.
“We are happy with what we have seen, and we will continue to do it for the satisfaction of the residents of Abuja and assure them that the Renewed Hope Agenda was not a mere talk. So, it is a promise and a promise kept”.
However, while reacting to comments from some quarters that most of the ongoing road projects were not directly beneficial or impactful to the people, Wike said “I don’t know how anybody will say road projects are not impactful.
“First, it creates jobs; two, it makes the economy to thrive. What can be more impactful than road construction? All projects that we are doing are impactful projects”.
He added that with the kind of support from President Bola Tinubu, there were no challenges that would not be surmountable.
One of the projects inspected was the Outer Southern Expressway, which stretched from A.A Rano, through Deeper Life Junction, SARS, Apo roundabout to Wasa District, the road is being constructed by China Geo-Engineering Corporation (CGC) Nigeria Limited.
The Minister also inspected the Northern N-20 Expressway in Jahi District being constructed by Gilmor Construction firm and the Vice President’s residence being constructed by Julius Berger.
On his part, the Area Manager, CGC Nigeria Ltd., Yong Hong, assured the minister that the Outer Southern Expressway would be delivered before May 29.
In the same vein, the representative of Julius Berger, Mr Oliver Berger, said the team were on site for the past two months and have done a lot of work on the VP residence project.
According to him, “We have done a lot of cleaning inside and outside. As you can see a lot of infrastructural work has happened; earth work around the fence line has been done, sewage and other trenches have been done.
“All the procurement processes have commenced already and from the preparation point of view we are in a good position to turn all our plans and procurement activities into action.”
