By Philip Yatai

Mr Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), says the FCT Administration is fixing Apo to Karshi road to reduce the sufferings of the people along the corridor.

Wike stated this in Abuja, after he inspected the ongoing 13-kilometre road project, awarded since 2011.

He said that the FCT Administration had paid more than 86 per cent of the contract sum leaving a balance of N3 billion.

The minister explained that a lot had happened since the award of the contract, “but it wasn’t good at all; we have no choice but to see that the poor do not suffer.”

He said that the FCT Administration was doing all it could to deliver the project so that people would not accuse the administration of playing politics.

“It is a project that is very dear to us. We know the importance of this road.

“So many people are eager to see that this project is completed on time, so that it will ease a lot of traffic and boost economic activities in the area,” he said.

Wike said that the project was earlier expected to be delivered within six to seven months, if the contractor was mobilised to site.

He explained that the contractor could not move to site because of procurement processes, adding, however, that the issue had been resolved and the contractor had been mobilised.

He said that the contractor has reviewed the delivery date to April 2025 but expressed doubt on the possibility due to certain unidentified concerns.

“I still have my doubt; I will not lie to you. But let’s give them the benefit of doubt, if they put in more effort.

“If I come here again and I see that they have improved on what we have seen today, I will tell the Treasury Department to release the funds to them.

“For now, let’s watch them, but we are very serious about this project,” the minister said.

On whether he would consider revoking the contract, Wike said: “So many people don’t understand that when you cancel a project, there are a lot of implications.

“There are financial implications, legal implications, so many things.

“What we are saying is that we will continue to encourage the contractor to see that the project is finished on time because we will not have any problem on our own part.

“That is why from time to time, I will come here to see that this project is completed on time.”

The minister also said that the rehabilitation of the Karshi to Nyanya road would be completed in eight months.

He explained that the President Bola Tinubu had directed emergency rehabilitation following the bad state of the 18-kilometre road.

“What attracted me to that road, if you remember, when we came to this Karshi to Apo road in July, we took that road and I saw how bad the road was.

“I wrote to President Tinubu, and he approved the immediate rehabilitation of that road, to be fitted with streetlights and the contractor has given us eight months to complete the project.

“The road is important because there are so many government offices along it,” he said. (NAN)

Edited by Rotimi Ijikanmi