The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved nine road projects worth N631.49 billion, including N30 billion to repair damaged sections of the East-West Road, and to fit the entire Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano highway with solar-powered streetlights.
Minister of Works, Senator Dave Umahi, disclosed this on Wednesday while briefing journalists at the State House, Abuja, after the Council meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu.
Umahi also said Nigeria and four other West African countries were seeking financing from the African Development Bank (AfDB) for their respective sections of the proposed 1,028-kilometre Lagos-Abidjan highway.
He said ministers from the participating countries would meet on Friday, under his chairmanship, to discuss funding arrangements.
‘The ministers of the ECOWAS countries are going to be meeting on Friday, chaired by me’, he said.
The largest domestic road approval is N209 billion for the reconstruction of the 81.1-kilometre Ado-Ekiti-Ijan-Ilumoba-Ikole Road in Ekiti State, including a bridge.
The contract was awarded to CBC.
The Council also approved N167 billion for a 95-kilometre road reconstruction project in Kogi State, awarded to JRuby Construction Nigeria Limited.
The Council also approved N89.2 billion for the construction of the 47-kilometre Bichi Ring Road, including a flyover, with Lara Lake handling the project.
‘Bichi Ring Road is a total length of 47 kilometres and a flyover’, Umahi said, putting the contract sum at N89.2 billion.
A 30-kilometre road linking Adamawa and Taraba states, with five bridges, received approval for N62 billion. WeChina Nigeria Limited was awarded the contract.
On the East-West Road, Umahi said the N30 billion intervention would address flood-damaged sections.
He explained that the remedial works became necessary because ‘the road was built years back and is now below flood level’.
The Council also approved N28.218 billion to rehabilitate a 17-kilometre section of the Sokoto-Illela Road, Route A1, awarded to Kespeco Global Limited.
Other approvals include N20.257 billion for the 18-kilometre Amasiri Road project linking the Port Harcourt-Enugu Expressway and N14.486 billion for the Dikko-Maje link to the Suleja-Minna Road, awarded to MW Resources Limited.
Umahi described the Dikko-Maje project as an eight-kilometre dual carriageway.
For the third phase of the road dualisation project through Bende in Abia State, the council approved N11.33 billion for Bolif Nigeria Limited.
The minister said the NNPC tax-credit scheme had previously financed the project, but funding stopped, prompting a review of its scope.
‘The funding stopped, and the governor of Abia decided to take a chunk of the project’, he said.
According to Umahi, about five kilometres remained under the Federal Government’s intervention, while the state government had undertaken to construct the remaining 43 kilometres.
‘The governor of Abia is taking the remaining 43 kilometres to be constructed by the state’, he said.
On the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano highway, Umahi said the council commended Tinubu for completing and commissioning the first lot, covering 118 kilometres.
He said 81 kilometres of that section were constructed with reinforced concrete pavement within 30 months, describing the pace as ‘the fastest project in the history of this country’.
The minister said the second lot, covering 164 kilometres, was nearing completion, with only 16 kilometres outstanding.
‘The second one is going to be completed within the next 30 days, and that is 164 kilometres. Only 16 kilometres is left of that project’, he said.
Umahi added that the second lot was being constructed entirely with reinforced concrete pavement.
He said the planned installation of solar-powered streetlights would cover the entire 375-kilometre dual carriageway from Abuja through Kaduna and Zaria to Kano.
‘The entire 375 kilometres by two from Abuja, Kaduna, Zaria, Kano is all going to be lit with solar light, and that is the longest route so far’, he said.
On the Lagos-Abidjan highway, Umahi said the council noted preparations for financing talks involving Nigeria, Benin Republic, Togo, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire.
Nigeria’s section covers 79 kilometres from Tincan Island in Lagos to the Seme border.
He explained that the proposed arrangement would allow each participating country to secure AfDB financing for work within its territory.
‘The African Development Bank will lend to the member states to fund their own corridor’, Umahi said.
The proposed regional highway is expected to improve transport links among the five countries and facilitate cross-border trade and movement.