By Gabriel Atumeyi
The Federal Government has again reiterated its profound satisfaction with the good quality of works and excellent engineering standards being consistently and rapidly implemented by Julius Berger on the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano road project.
The position of the Federal Government was made known at a press briefing by the Minister of State for Works, Engr. Aliyu Abubakar, at Dan Kazali at Section III of the ongoing works in Kano.
Engr. Aliyu Abubakar, said the Federal Government will not rest on its oars until the ongoing reconstruction of Abuja-Kaduna-Kano road project is completed as planned.
Speaking to news correspondents on Thursday during his physical inspection tour of the project from Abuja to Kano, Abubakar expressed the Federal Government’s full commitment to the realization of the strategically important road project.
He said that the Abuja-Kano Road project was one of the priorities of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
According to him, this has necessitated and occasioned proper, close and consistent monitoring visits to the project in the past few months by the Honourable Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Raji-Fashola with powerful delegations which also included the person of Professor Gambari, the Chief of Staff to the President.
Abubakar said as a sequel to the Honourable Minister’s visit, a technical delegation of engineering experts also visited the project for further empirical assessment of the ongoing works. He said that was also followed with the visit of the Permanent Secretary of the ministry who led a team of other engineers.
“This is how committed we are toward the completion of this project before the end of this administration. This is done because we have prioritised the project. From President Buhari, the minister, myself, our staff, engineers and the contractors (Julius Berger), we are all committed to ensuring that we deliver this work as envisioned by the present administration. That is why we do not leave any stone unturned.
“In the beginning, the scope was rehabilitation of the existing road. But having started the work, we realised that we need to reconstruct the road completely. This is now the stage that we are. So, if we are moving from rehabilitation to reconstruction, it takes time. It is entirely reconstructing the road. The road has stayed for so long without being given any much attention, especially if you talk about maintenance which makes a life span of a road longer. When this present government came, we set up a plan to ensure that all our roads are being maintained, and those that require reconstruction are being reconstructed,” he said.