The Minister of Works, Engr Dave Umahi has disclosed that the Federal Government has approved a series of road projects across Nigeria with the total approvals amounting to approximately 1.24 trillion naira.
He made this disclosure on Monday to journalists after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the Presidential Villa.
The Minister also announced a number of infrastructure developments aimed at improving connectivity and addressing flood-damaged roads.
Some of the key approvals include an additional N80 billion funding for the Bodo-Bonny Road in Rivers State, totaling the project cost to N280 billion.
FEC also approved N740 billion for the rehabilitation of an 82-kilometer stretch of the Abuja-Kano Road to be executed by Julius Berger.
The construction of a 258-kilometer three-lane carriageway, part of the 1,000km Sokoto-Badagry Super-highway in Kebbi State was also approved.
Others include rehabilitation of the Maraban-Kankara/Funtua Road in Katsina State and dualisation of the Afikpo-Uturu-Okigwe road in Ebonyi, Abia, and Imo states.
The Minister also highlighted the completion of emergency works on the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos, which now includes advanced security features such as CCTV cameras and an observation room to enhance safety and response times.
Additionally, Umahi said 14 road and bridge projects affected by floods were approved for construction or rehabilitation across Ekiti, Adamawa, Kebbi, Cross River, Ondo, Osun, Plateau and Rivers states.
The 14 road projects and bridges were badly affected by floods and the bridges that were being threatened include Ado-Ekiti/Afe Babalola in Ekiti State; JB Lamba Road in Adamawa State and Kuku-Besse-Zaria-Kata Road in Kebbi State.
Other approved projects include the construction of Ngutuk to Demeshi Road; Amasiroposi/Uburishagu to Enugu State.
Umahi also listed the 20.3 kilometre Phase 1 Awo-Iwe-Ata road; Ebom Road in Cross River State; the Ilesha-Oke-Igbo, Ondo State, Phase 1 and another construction work at Atakumosa East in Osun State.
He also mentioned Lafia/Shendam Road in Plateau State, a section of Abakaliki/Afikpo Road Section 1; the dualisation of Bodoken/Kitti/Koroma Road in River State, and the dualisation of Afikpo/Uturu/Okigwe Road in Ebonyi, Abia and Imo states. Also, the repair and rehabilitation of Gamboru Bridge along Gambor-Ngala/Kala-Balge Road in Bornu State.
The Minister also said the federal government approved two contracts for roads, one in Cross River, and the other one is Kabba in Kogi State, down to Ado-Ekiti road in favour of CCECC.
He stressed that the 82 kilometres Abuja/Kano Road has been approved for dualisation. “It’s a project of Julius Berger that has been ongoing, and we inherited from the past administration that about 62 kilometres were completed for a total sum of N393 billion and paid.
Umahi emphasised the government’s shift towards using continuous reinforced concrete pavement for some projects, citing durability concerns.
He also mentioned the approval for constructing a service lane at the Lekki Deep Seaport to alleviate traffic congestion.
The FEC meeting also addressed the issue of fuel trucks damaging newly constructed roads.Technically and by design, the roads were never built for static loads, and so it has a lot of negative effects.
In response, the government approved a plan to concession federal land for the construction of a tolled truck park, similar to the solution implemented in Apapa.
Companies would be given the opportunity to bid for the project and the winner would get the project to build a park.
Umahi said the park will be tolled so that all the trucks can safely park over there, noting that the pavement of such a park is quite different from the pavement of the road.
It is hoped that all outstanding road projects are completed before new ones are embarked upon.
