The Federal Government has began the reconstruction of the 38km Section I Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria –Kano road project worth 145 billion naira.
During the launch of the reconstruction, the Minister of Works, David Umahi said the project awarded to Julius Berger in 2018, would now be handled by the Dangote Industries Limited.
He said the project is be completed within 14 months.
”The road from Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano has witnessed completion from Kaduna to Zaria; however, that of the Kano axis has been substantially completed with only 17km left,” he said.
The minister said that the Abuja to Kaduna section has been slow thereby mandating the ministry to change options.
“The condition of the road to the Kano airport is terrible. So we included about 5.3km to that of the Kano section and incorporated solar light along the corridor.
“BUA is doing that at a cost of 42 billion and that is at about 1.9 billion per kilometre because it is done on concrete with solar light.
“The section I is 38km or 76 single carriageways, that is if you multiply it by two, and the cost is also 145 billion or 1.9 billion per kilometer,”he said
Mr Umar Bakare, Director of Rehabilitation and Construction, Ministry of Works, who provided an overview, said the project originally awarded to Julius Berger in 2018 was reconsidered and divided into three sections to expedite construction.
He explained that section II of the project from Zaria to Kaduna has been substantially completed while section three has reached an advanced stage of completion.
“Section I has so far achieved about 27 per cent completion.
“Due to the importance of this road as a major link to the federal capital from the north, as well as its economic importance to the country, it became imperative to fast-track the completion of the outstanding sections of the dual carriageway.
“To this effect, the present administration, as part of the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu, decided to award the outstanding sections of the project to two other contractors.
“These are Dangote Industries Ltd. and BUA Nigeria Limited in addition to the initial contractor, Julius Berger Nigeria Limited and we are here today to officially flag off the section of the road being handled by Dangote Industries Ltd.”
Bakare said to further underscore the importance of the road, and most importantly, to alleviate the sufferings of road users ,the ministry deemed it fit to carry out palliative works on the critically faced sections of the road all through the construction period.
The General Manager of Dangote Group, Bukar Abba, thanked the Federal Government and the minister of works for the confidence and trust reposed on the Dangote Group.
“We have undertaken projects before, we have completed and delivered. We we are assuring the Government that we are a willing partner in its efforts to develop road infrastructure in Nigeria.
“We very well align with the completion period proposed by the minister of works and we are going to hit the ground running. We will not let you down on this and on any other projects,” he said.