Nigeria: 11km Completed On Section 1 of Abuja-Kaduna Highway - Umahi

The Minister of Works, Sen. David Umahi, has stated that 11 kilometers on Section 1 of the Abuja-Kaduna highway has been laid with concrete.

The minister, who made the disclosure during an inspection visit to the road at the weekend, said the reconstruction done by Infiouest International Limited proved the government made the right decision to revoke it from Julius Berger.

"In section I, which is 38 kilometres plus section II, which is 40 by 2, 80 kilometres, we have completed over 11 kilometres with reinforced concrete pavement. You need to see this road before now. We are pulverising. We are putting a stone base, about 80-inch stone base.

"We are putting cement to mix it and compact it. We are putting in Y-20 reinforcement. We have it in bridges and then 20-cm intervals, and then we are putting a 16-millimetre reinforced concrete with wires, and then we are completing 200-millimetre reinforced concrete grade 40. So, we have completed 11 kilometers."

In a statement by his media aide, Orji Uchenna Orji, the minister said the progress and quality of work done by the contractor had vindicated the ministry's decision to revoke the contract from Julius Berger Nigeria Ltd due to cost differences.

He praised the commitment of President of Bola Ahmed Tinubu in ensuring speedy and quality delivery of the project.

"Let me say that I am very grateful to Mr President for the support in the reconstruction of this project. When we terminated this project because of the cost differences between the Ministry of Works and Julius Berger, it became a very big challenging task for me. But without the support of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, it would have been very difficult to redeem my integrity.

"Today, I can say that my integrity and that of the Ministry of Works have been redeemed by the quality of work that Infiouest is doing.

He also declared an emergency on the state of the dualization of Suleja-Minna road, saying the president was concerned by the deplorable state of the road and directed that urgent action should be taken to fix it and restore the confidence of road users.

He maintained that the contractor, Messrs Salini Nigeria Ltd was responsible for the failure in the delivery of the project on time and in specification, adding that the termination of the job due to non-performance is irrevocable.

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