To ensure well-being of the citizenry, House of Representatives has ordered construction giant, Julius Berger, to resume work on the Abuja -Kaduna road project.
Adopting a motion sponsored by Garba Datti at plenary presided over by Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila, the lower legislative chamber equally directed the company to ensure completion of the Jere-Kaduna road stretch.
Consequently, the Green Chamber mandated its Committee on Works to liaise with the Minister of Works and Housing and the heads of security agencies towards ensuring implementation of the resolutions and report back in three weeks.
Datti (APC: Kaduna) observed that the delay in completing the roads has brought untold hardship to motorists. He recalled that in March 2021, the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), announced that the Federal Executive Council had approved contract for rehabilitation of the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano expressway, among others approvals with a delivery date of December 2022.
His words: “Recall the honourable minister announced that the firm, which had initially been contracted to undertake the rehabilitation work, Julius Berger Plc, would also be responsible for the reconstruction.
“And following concerning incessant and rampant incidents of banditry along the Abuja-Kaduna highway, the contractor withdrew its workers.
“Notes that at the time of the withdrawal by the contractor, at least one half of the stretch of road had been graded and covered only in laterite which, after the intense rainfall of the past few months, has given way to gorges and potholes that have left the highway unmotorable and severely slowed down traffic such that a journey that would ordinarily last one and a half hours now took three hours to complete.
“Further note that because of the current condition of the road, it only takes for a vehicle or truck to break down for a few minutes to cause a static traffic.”