Gwagwalada, Kuje residents seek Minister’s intervention on road project
NAN-H-39
Road
By Monday Ijeh
Abuja, Dec. 29, 2016 (NAN) Residents of Gwagwalada and Kuje Area Councils of the FCT have urged the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Bello, to compel the contractor handling Kuje-Gwagwalada road project to return to site.
Some of the residents who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Thursday in Kuje, expressed dissatisfaction over the delay in completion of the project.
Mr Sam Obaro, a resident who works in Gwagwalada, but lives in Kuje, said successive FCT administrations, since 2009, had allegedly played politics with the project and had used it as a conduit pipe for corruption.
Obaro said the project was strategic considering the fact it was a major road connecting Kuje and Gwagwalada area councils.
He said several farms, especially poultry, were also located along the road but noted that transportation of produce to point of sales had been a major challenge to the farmers.
Mrs Patience Danladi, another resident, said the road had severally been awarded and revoked since 2009 without meaningful progress.
Danladi said the greatest setback recorded on the project was during the administration of Alhaji Bala Mohammed, where the project was awarded, abandoned, revoked and re-awarded.
“I can remember vividly that the promise to award Kuje-Gwagwalada road and several others in the FCT was made by the minister during PDP rally.
“As I speak to you, all the roads, including Kuje-Gwagwalada road, that were awarded within the period have been abandoned,” she said.
Danladi therefore appealed to the FCT minister to come to the aid of residents to ensure speedy completion of the project.
Mr Bala Bako said insincerity on the part of past administrations of the FCT was responsible for the delay in the completion of the project.
He commended the current administration for its focus and steadfastness, adding that several abandoned projects in the FCT are being resurrected.
Bako also urged the minister to take advantage of the dry season to apply same to Kuje-Gwagwalada road to reduce the residents’ suffering.
He said complaints by successive contractors who had handled the project had been non-release of funds by the government.
He called for prompt release of funds for the project and added that any delay in the completion would further worsen the situation of residents in the area.
Bako advised that quality materials be used for the project, noting that some of the portions completed earlier were already becoming dilapidated. (NAN)
IMC/DOR/MST
Edited by Nyisom Dore/Muhammad Suleiman Tola