Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has given Setraco Nigeria Ltd., the contractor executing the construction of 7.2-kilometre road in Bwari Area Council five-month ultimatum to complete the project.
The road linked Gaba and Tokulo communities in the council.
Wike, who gave the delivery timeline when he inspected the project on Friday, said that FCT Administration had so far, paid the contractor 70 per cent of the contract sum.
“The ultimatum we have given to the contractor is that before or latest by December, this road must be completed.
“Funding of this road is not a problem. We have funded not less than 70 per cent of the contract sum, so funding is not a problem,” he said.
The minister, who expressed confidence in the capacity of the contractor to meet the deadline, commended the quality of the job so far.
He said: “From what the coordinator said, they have been able to at least, achieve more than 40 per cent and that is why I said funding is not a problem.
“The contractor has just said that they are going to deliver, and I believe them, because they are one of the biggest contractors in the country.”
Wike said that the development was contrary to the erroneous assumptions that development projects in the FCT were being concentrated in the city centre,
“So many people have thought that we are concentrating our development project in the city. Yesterday, we were in Saburi to inspect a project, today, we are in Bwari and tomorrow, we will be at Kuje.
“People should understand that in addition to what we are doing in the city, we are also carrying out development projects in satellite towns and rural areas.
“We are taking development to rural areas to improve their economy. This is an agrarian area, without this road, how are people going to move their goods?
“This is part of the problems we have in terms of food security. People are talking about shortages of food, but if we don’t have means of transportation, that is also a problem,” he said.
He said that the FCT Administration, with the support of President Bola Tinubu, was making efforts to solve that problem of transportation.
This, according to him, will enable farmers to be able to bring whatever they have produced for people to consume or to buy.
He thanked the Chairman of the council, Mr John Gabaya and residents of Bwari for supporting the execution of the project.
He also told the residents that the government of Tinubu was serious about solving the economic crisis in the country and urged Nigerians to be patient.
“It is not easy, but Mr President is willing. He knows there are problems and that is why he said he would tackle those problems and challenges,” he stressed.
He urged citizens to continue to support the Tinubu-led administration “to lead us to the Nigeria we all dream of.” (NAN)