Rock
By Monday Ijeh
Maiduguri, May 12, 2018 (NAN) The contractor handling Damaturu-Biu and Gombe-Biu road projects, FIK Resource Ltd, has called for the intervention of the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing to secure rock blasting approval.
Mr Taofic Abdullrahman, the Project Manager, FIK Resources Ltd, made the call on Saturday in Maiduguri during an inspection tour of on-going federal projects in the North-East by officials of the ministry.
The inspection team was led by the Minister of State for Power, Works and Housing, Alhaji Mustapha Shehuri.
Abdullrahman told the team that the ban on rock blasting in the area was a major challenge to the execution of the projects and called for the intervention of the ministry.
“The major challenge we have on this project is aggregates, that is availability of stones and as you are aware there has been a ban on blasting around here for almost 11 years.
“As a result of that, all the quarries around are not functioning and as I speak with you, there is no functional quarry within a radius of about 100km from here.
“We are currently sourcing for quarry materials from a distance of about 160km and it has not really been easy.
“We have acquired our quarry now, the process is almost completed and we also have a crusher which has a capacity for about 44,000 tonnes per hour,’’ he said.
Abdullrahman called for the intervention of the minister to secure rock blasting approval from the office of the National Security Adviser.
Mr Patrick Nneji, the Federal Controller of Works in Borno, said the two projects; Gombe-Biu and Damaturu-Biu, were awarded to FIK Resources Ltd.
He said the length of the rehabilitation work on Gombe-Biu project was 117km with a completion period of 24 months, while Damaturu-Biu project covering 49.1km had a completion period of 18 months.
Nneji said the Damaturu-Biu project commenced in 2016 but was delayed because of security challenges, while Gombe-Biu commenced in March,
According to him, 15 per cent of Damaturu-Biu project has been completed after 111 per cent time lapse. (NAN)
IMC/COO/JCE
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Edited by Cecilia Odey