The Federal Executive Council at its meeting on Wednesday approved contracts for the rehabilitation of 26 federal highways across the six geo-political zones. The projects will cost N116.5bn.
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Minister of Works and Housing, Dr. Hassan Lawal

It said that the road contracts were awarded under a Presidential Zonal Intervention Projects initiated by President Umaru Yar’Adua to ensure that all zones in the country felt the impact of the Federal Government.

The projects are to be funded through budgetary allocations.

The Minister of Works, Dr. Hassan Lawal, who briefed journalists on the outcome of the FEC meeting said the 26 roads were selected by a special committee, comprising members of the executive and legislative arms of government.

The roads were selected based on criteria such as their socio-economic importance, their state of disrepair and the urgency of the need to repair them.

A breakdown of the roads shows that the North-Central Zone, the North-East and the North-West each got four road projects, while the South-East Zone received the highest share with seven.

Also, the South-South Zone got three contracts, while the South-West had four.

The affected roads are:

South-West Zone

- Rehabilitation of Kabba-Omuo-Ifaki-Ado Ekiti-Aramoko-Itawure-Efon Alaye-Erinmo-Osigbo Road Section 1 in Ekiti State;

- Rehabilitation of Ibadan-Oyo-Ogbomoso Road Section 1 in Oyo State;

- Rehabilitation of Sagamu-Ajebandele-Ore-Benin Road Section 1 in Ondo State;

- Rehabilitation of Sagamu-Ajebandele-Ore-Benin Road Section 2 in Ogun State;

North-Central Zone.

- Rehabilitation of the 9th Mile-Oturkpo-Makurdi Road (Otukpa-Oturkpo Junction);

- Rehabilitation of the Mararaba-Pambeguwa Saminaka-Jos Road Section 1, Mararaba-Pambeguwa in Kaduna State ;

- Rehabilitation of the Mararaba-Pambeguwa Saminaka-Jos Road Section 2, Mararaba-Pambeguwa in Kaduna State ;

- Rehabilitation of the Ilorin-Jebba-Mokwa Road; Ilorin-Jebba Section Phase 1 in Kwara State.

North-East Zone.

- Rehabilitation of Gombe-Numan-Yola Section 2, Numan-Gombe in Adamawa/Gombe states;

- Rehabilitation of Maiduguri-Bama-Gwoza-Hong Road Section 2, Bama-Gwoza in Borno State;

- Rehabilitation of Maiduguri-Bama-Gwoza-Hong Road Section 1; Maiduguri-Bama-Banki in Borno State;

North-West Zone.

- Rehabilitation of Kano-Katsina-Kaura Namoda-Jibiya Road Section 3 in Zamfara/Katsina states.

- Rehabilitation of Kano-Katsina-Kaura Namoda-Jibiya Road Section 4 in Zamfara/Katsina states;

- Rehabilitation of Kano-Kazaure-Daura-Mai Adua Road in Katsina State .

- Rehabilitation of Kano-Katsina-Kaura Namoda-Jibia Road Section 1, Kano-Katsina State Border Road .

South-East Zone

- Rehabilitation of the 9th Mile-Enugu-Port Harcourt dual carriageway in Enugu/Abia states;

- Rehabilitation of Onitsha-Enugu Dual Carriageway Section 2; Anambra State Border-Enugu Road;

- Rehabilitation of Oba-Nnewi Section 1 in Anambra State;

- Rehabilitation of Abakaliki-Afikpo Road Section 1 in Ebonyi State;

- Rehabilitation of Aba-Owerri Road in Abia State;

- Rehabilitation of Oba-Nnewi-Okigwe Road Route 429 Section 2; Anambra/Imo State Border-Ibinta-Okigwe Road in Imo State.

South-South Zone

- Rehabilitation of Calabar-Ugep-Ogoja-Katsina Ala Road Section 1 in Cross River State;

- Rehabilitation of Calabar-Ugep-Ogoja-Katsina Ala Road Section 2 in Benue/Cross River State.

- Construction of Yenagoa-Okaki-Kolo in Bayelsa State.

The completion period of the various contracts ranges from 12 months to 30 months.

Lawal said the approval for the projects was historic .

He said, “Today, history has been made in the Federal Executive Council of this government because since independence there has been no regime, be it military or civilian, that has awarded contracts for 26 road projects to the tune of N116bn.”

Journalists, however, reminded the minister that some of the roads listed were part of similar contracts awarded by some past administrations, which eventually failed to yield the results.

But Lawal insisted that the Federal Government had already ensured adequate budgetary provisions for the road projects.

He added the Federal Ministry of Works would ensure adequate supervision.

“In the past, we had problems where contracts could not be completed due to lack of funds,” he said.

He, however, noted that the road projects that failed in the past were not initiated by the Yar’Adua administration.

Responding to concerns that some zones, particularly the South-South, did not receive a major share of the contracts, Lawal said the South-East benefited more than the others due to the ecological problems in the region.

He said that Yar’Adua realised that commerce and trade were the major preoccupation of the South-East and that the road network in the zone should be efficient to ease the movement of goods and persons.

The minister dismissed insinuations that the South-South was shortchanged, noting that the zone had benefited more than others through the newly-established Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and the Niger Delta Development Commission.

He also drew attention to the contracts for the construction of the East-West Road in the South-South, which the FEC recently approved at the cost of N74bn.

Other road contracts approved by the FEC on Wednesday included a contract for the rehabilitation and extension of the Abuja Airport Expressway Lot 1 and 2 awarded to Julius Berger Nigeria Plc.

Both projects are to be completed in 23 months.

Also, the FEC approved contracts for the rehabilitation and expansion of the outer northern section of the Murtala Muhammed Expressway North Plots 1 and 2 in the sum of N66.8bn and N81.9bn respectively.