Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola has announced that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari is executing 800 contracts and 13,000km of roads and bridges across the country.
The Minister said this on Friday August 13, after inspecting an on-going construction work on the Chanchangi Bridge in Takum Local Government Area of Taraba State. He said the federal government is determined to link Nigerians from all parts of the country through accessible roads and bridges.
The ancient Chanchangi Bridge was constructed by the military as an alternative bridge to be used by motorcyclists and pedestrians.
Fashola also stated that the federal government would consider the takeover of the rehabilitation of the 30km Takum-Chanchangi-Road project from the Government of Taraba.
He noted that the strategic importance of the road that linked Taraba with many other parts of the country necessitated the consideration by the Federal government to take over the project.
The Minister assured Nigerians that soon, most of the projects under construction would be completed in order to enhance security and grow the economy. He, however, appealed to Nigerians to be patient as all hands were on deck to complete most projects located in each of the 36 states.
NAN reports that the Government of Taraba had awarded the said contract to the SCC Nigeria Ltd., but the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 had affected its funding.
The minister expressed satisfaction with the work done on the bridge by SCC Nigeria Ltd., and the contractor handling the project.
He assured the residents that the work would be completed in the next three months.
Earlier, Mr Abubakar Yakubu, the Controller of Works, Taraba Field Headquarters in the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, commended the contractor for a good job done.
Yakubu said the contract execution had reached 80 per cent completion, maintaining that its execution was in line with the original design.
Also speaking, the Chairman of Takum Local Government Council, Mr Shiban Tikari, commended the Federal Government for embarking on the project as well as the planned takeover of the Takum-Chanchagi-Road project which he said was in a deplorable state.
