The House of Representatives ad hoc committee evaluating the progress of work done on the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano road has expressed displeasure with the state of the Kaduna-Abuja axis of the road.
This is as the committee described as unacceptable the slow pace of work on the Abuja-Kaduna segment by the contractor and pledged to do everything possible to ensure the road project is completed soon for the use of motorists.
The Chairman of the Committee, Aminu Jaji, stated this when he led members on an oversight visit to inspect the project on Sunday.
Recall that Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, had last week threatened to revoke the contract if the contractors failed to return to the site within seven days and continue with the project expeditiously.
He was unhappy that the road witnessed a slow completion rate since it was awarded in 2018.
During the oversight, Jaji said the committee would intervene in the matter and ensure it is resolved so that work will commence immediately.
He said, “We’ll do our best to ensure that all things are done in accordance with the contractual agreement and other applications that are supposed to be done with the National Assembly.
“Since there is intervention from the National Assembly, I think both the contractors and the Minister, need to hold on to their positions so that the necessary thing is done in accordance with the contractual agreement.
“So for us, we don’t know that condition yet until we get it formally, and we have requested all necessary information from the Ministry.
“We are going to write to all relevant agencies, including those that are responsible for this palliative exercise that is taking place on this Abuja-Kaduna road.”
He appealed to the road users to be patient, assuring that work on the road would be completed in no distant time.
He said, “After the demand given to this ad hoc committee, we decided to embark on an assessment tour today.
“We have seen a lot, and that is why we said that we cannot do anything rather than coming to see for ourselves. Seeing for ourselves will give us a headway on what to do and in fact, we’ve assessed the nature of the work and then the problem.
“What everybody can see today is that the work has been awarded for almost six years also. The way and manner the contractors are doing the work is too slow. That is why the House deemed it very necessary to constitute the committee under the leadership of the Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas.”
The oversight was to assess the project milestones achieved by the contractors and evaluate the ongoing palliative work initiated by the Federal Government.