Minister Guarantees Contractors Sufficient Funding For Abuja-Kano Highway

Contractors have been guaranteed sufficient funding for the Abuja-Kano highway by Wale Edun, Minister of Finance and Co-Ordinating Minister of the Economy.

The assurance was provided by the minister in a statement released on Saturday and signed by Stephen Kilebe, the ministry’s spokesperson.

The Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Road forms a critical part of Nigeria’s highway which runs from north to south, enabling the movement of people and products across the country, thereby, uniting Nigerians and the economy.

It also connects Nigeria to North Africa via the Lagos-Algiers Trans-African Highway.

To address the poor condition and deterioration of this major road, the Federal Government contracted the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the 375.9km of the dual carriageway to Julius Berger: from the Federal Capital Territory Abuja through Kaduna, excluding the Kaduna bypass, to Zaria and further north to Kano.

However, Edun noted that the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano dual carriageway is a viable project, adding that he does not doubt the completion of the project on time by the contractors.

The statement read, “The Minister of Finance and Co-Ordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, and his Federal Ministry of Works counterpart, Senator David Umahi, have embarked on the inspection of the Abuja – Kaduna – Zaria – Kano Dual Carriage Way.

“In his remarks, the minister said they were at the inspection of the project today under the mandate of President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda to examine and hear from the contractors and see their commitment, encourage and support them to the early completion of this all-important project and to urge them to do more.”

Edun reiterated that infrastructure was a critical priority of the Tinubu-led administration “in order to get food prices down, ease transportation of agricultural produce, movement of people freely across the country, and stabilise the economy.”

The minister assured the contractors of the availability of funds for the early completion of the road project.

He said, “We have come, we have seen the level of commitment of the contractors to the completion of the project as soon as possible.”

The minister, who commended the level of progress made on the project, said the ongoing attempt was to improve domestic resources mobilisation available to highly viable projects such as this.

Earlier, Umahi disclosed that Tinubu had directed that they “must ensure that work is completed on this project in 24 months.”

He added that “the two ministers are sorting out the payment modalities and ensuring milestone completion of the project.”

Additionally, Umahi expressed her gratitude to him for his crucial decisions regarding the projects’ completion.

The contractor managing the project, Julius Berger, through Mr. Benjamin Butt, the programme manager, revealed that the company was rehabilitating the road using a construction methodology called recycling technology.