Minister of State for Works and Housing, Engineer Abubakar D. Aliyu (FNSE) has said that construction work is progressing steadily on the ongoing reconstruction of Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Road and would be completed and delivered on time.
The Minister stated this on Thursday 11th February 2021 while inspecting the project to assess the progress of the ongoing work.
“We are satisfied with the quality of work going on and we are working to increase the pace of the work. You can see that work is going on simultaneously on all sections of both lanes of the dual carriage 375km long road from Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria- Kano” he said
He explained that the work was initially for rehabilitation but now full reconstruction work was being done and this had delayed the job.
He said: “We are fully committed both from the President Muhammadu Buhari, the Honourable Minister, the Engineers, and the Contractor to deliver the project in good time. We will deliver quality work that will stand the test of time.”
Speaking further, the Minister said that Federal Government had prioritized the project and this accounted for the high level of inspection going on the project because the government wanted to finish the project on time.
On the level of work done so far, the Minister said: “We have made a lot of progress. You can see that over 100km of the road, at a stretch, had been completed under sections one to three (Abuja-Kano) , 40km completed under section II (Kaduna-Zaria), and 70km completed under section III (Zaria-Kano)”
He stated that while some sections of the roads were at different levels of completion, section II would be delivered by the first quarter of 2022 while section III would be completed by the first quarter of 2023.
On his part, the Federal Controller of Works, Kaduna, Engineer Zira Adamu said that the quality of materials, as well as the workmanship deployed for the works, was satisfactory.
“The contractor is fully mobilized to site and since then work on the project has moved to five work zones and we are satisfied with the pace and quality of work.”, he said.
On the challenges being faced, the Regional Manager of Julius Berger Nigeria Limited, Engineer Benjamin Bott lamented that despite the provision of warning/caution signs and traffic control devices to improve safety at diversions within the construction zones some motorists often disregard the signs thereby causing an accident.
He added that the prevalence of kidnapping and armed robbery along the project corridor was also affecting their work.
The Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano road reconstruction project was awarded to Julius Berger Nigeria Plc on 20th December 2017 and the project commenced on 21st May 2018 with 36 months completion period.