FEC approves 14 flood-affected road projects across Nigeria

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the construction of 14 flood-affected roads and bridges in Ekiti, Adamawa, Kebbi, and Enugu states.

This was mentioned by Works Minister David Unahi to State House media following the FEC meeting.

He stated that the others are in Cross River, Ondo, Osun, Ebonyi, Abia, and Imo States.

He stated that the roads have been given, along with a contract for the repair and renovation of Gamboru Bridge on the Gambor-Ngala/Kala-Balge Road in Bornu.

According to the minister, the FEC also approved a new contract for the restoration of Katsina State’s Maraban-Kankara/Funtua Road, as well as the construction of a 258-kilometer three-lane road as part of the 1,000-kilometer Sokoto/Badagry Superhighway, Section 2, Phase 2A.

Similarly, he stated that the FEC has authorized the contract for the building and dualisation of the Afikpo-Uturu-Okigwe Road in Ebonyi, Abia, and Imo states (Section 2).

He stated that the FEC had also authorized the contract for Bodo-Bonny Road in Rivers, which will be executed by Julius Berger.

“FEC approved additional N80 billion to complete that project, bringing the total cost to N280 billion.

“The next is the Third Mainland Bridge, which was executed under emergency work,” he said.

He stated that when the current government took office, the Third Mainland Bridge was a nightmare.

“The deck had pavement differential of over one foot; that was causing a lot of accidents and hold up, and constituting dead load to the Third Mainland Bridge.

“So, that has been done and it also extended to Falamo and Queens Drive. It came with solar light, CCTV cameras and relief stations, to eliminate road blockage,” he said.

He added that when he came on board, Julius Berger wanted to go over the entire project.

“Don’t forget that the initial cost of the projects was N155 billion and the past administration reviewed it to N797 billion.

“Berger insisted that the reviewed contract sum should to N1.5 trillion. We didn’t have that money and the Coordinating Minister for the economy and myself went through the road and had strategic meeting with Berger,” said Umahi.

He stated that he eventually obtained President’s agreement to divide the projects into three pieces so that two could be completed with tax credits and one by Julius Berger.

“So, the first section is 38 kilometer, it has not been brought to Council. It’s to be done with on concrete.

“The second section is to be done by Berger and that is 82 kilometers by two, and it’s to be done with asphalt that they have been working with and the third section is, which is just 17 kilometers is to be done on concrete,” he said.

He claimed the FEC approved Julius Berger’s contract for a total of N740 billion. However, he stated that the other two were not submitted for approval.

“If you remove approximately N400 billion paid by the last administration, then what is left is about N340 billion. That is what the contract sum for the 164 kilometer will be and that’s what FEC approved today,” Umahi said.

The minister stated that the service lane on the Lekki Deep Seaport route has been approved for building by the FEC.

Finally, he stated that he spotted over 3,000 fuel trucks queuing to load fuel at Dangote Refinery, all of which were parked on the recently completed Lekki-Calabar coastal route.

“Technically and by design, the roads were never built for static loads, and so it has a lot of effects,” he said.

He stated that the FEC approved the concession of federal government land in the area so that concessioners could create a park.

“It’s a park that will be tolled, so that all the trucks can safely parked over there and the pavement of such a park is quite different from the pavement of the road,” said Umahi.