The Niger State government has pleaded to the Federal government for assistance in the Minna-Bida road reconstruction. The rehabilitation of the road will enable the state to be eligible for a loan from the Islamic Development Bank (IDB).
The Minister of Work and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, was told by the governor, Abubakar Bello, that sourcing for the N23 billion counterpart fund, was a requirement to get a loan for the Minna-Bida road reconstruction project from the IDB. Babatunde expressed this information through a letter signed by him and addressed to the minister.
Part of the letter read, ” The Niger State government wishes to appeal to the Federal Government to go ahead and release the sum of N23,818,530,043,06 to the contractor on certification of work done by the ministry.”
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Minna-Bida Road Contract award
The Minna-Bida is a 79-kilometer road and its contract was awarded in February 2020 by the Niger State government. The contract for the Minna-Bida road reconstruction and rehabilitation was awarded to Messer Dantata Sowoe Nigeria Limited. The cost was N23.4 billion and had a completion period deadline of 18 months. The Niger state had approached the bank for a loan of $181 million to help enable the financing of the Minna-Bida road reconstruction project. This was after Abubakar advised the minister that the state had received approval of the bank for the loan, subject to making available the counterpart fund, which he admitted was beyond the state’s capacity to raise.
Ever since the project’s conception in 2020, only about 5% of work has been carried out and completed. State Commissioner for Works and Infrastructural development, Mamman Musa, expressed his displeasure over the project’s slow pace of work done by the contractor that is handling the project. During his tours of road projects in the state, he said, “the pace at which this road is being constructed can not be tolerated any longer. I am not satisfied with its progress”.
Reported in September 2020
Fast tracking the construction of Minna-Bida highway
Niger has prohibited trailers, trucks, and other articulated vehicles from plying the Minna-Bida highway in a bid to fast track the ongoing reconstruction works on the 82-kilometer project.
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The government made its intention known after an assessment tour of the ongoing work on the road by the state infrastructure and project monitoring committee, headed by the Chief Of Staff to the government house, Alhaji Ibrahim Balarabe.
Reasons for the prohibition of these vehicles on the Minna-Bida highway
During the project tour, the committee noted that only about five percent of work has been achieved since the contractor, Dantata and Sowoe construction company, was awarded the contract in February this year. The project manager of the company, Ibrahim Fahir explained to the committee that apart from the heavy rains, the attitude of these vehicles drivers and the volume of traffic are largely responsible for the slow pace of the work on this project.
He said that unless something urgent is done to check the activities of these vehicles, it will be difficult to deliver the project within the scheduled time frame which is 18 months.
The only choice
The Chairman of the committee, Ibrahim Balarabe who expressed displeasure over the development, therefore, said that the government has no other choice than to close the road to trailers, trucks, and other articulated vehicles in order to allow the contractor to speed up the reconstruction works.
“We are under intense pressure from the public over the deplorable condition of the road and will therefore do everything possible to ensure the timely completion of the road,” disclosed Mr. Balarabe.
He also appealed to the federal government to repair some of the federal roads in the state including the Mokwa-Tegina-Brinin Gwari highway, and the Bida-Lapai-Agaie-Lambata highway to reduce the pressure on the Minna-Bida road.
