… Warns contractors to deliver on Projects
By Joyce Remi-Babayeju
The FCT Minister, Barr. Nyesom Ezenwo Wike has vowed to revive all abandoned projects in the FCT , just as the comatose environmental sanitation exercise back to Abuja.
Wike made this known on Monday in Abuja during a meeting with heads of over 15 construction companies working on various projects in the FCT, where he assured that the necessary funding will be made available for them to return to site and complete the projects.
While speaking to the contractors at the start of the meeting, the FCT Minister who declared that Abuja is now a construction site, with the marching orders of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to ensure that the Abuja Metro line is completed and put to use, in addition to the ongoing road projects in the FCT to also be completed to improve the road network in the nation’s capital.
The Minister also hinted that the Federal Government has increased allocation to improve funding for projects in the FCT.
He disclosed that the resurfacing of major roads in Garki, Wuse Maitama and Asokoro will begin in earnest as the contractors will be mobilized to site immediately.
However, Barrister Wike has warned that contractors must deliver the projects within agreed time frames without failure, assuring that the Administration will not owe any contractor as each project will be tied to specific funds.
“We are going to fund you, give you your money to go to site then you will tell us the time within which the project will be finished because I’ll attach funds to it. If we agree on three months, it’s three months. If I give six months, it’s six months. I hear no excuses at all because I know that we are not going to owe. Yes, we are not going to owe.”
The ministry also warned that the FCTA will not tolerate any work that is below standard, adding that all the ongoing projects will be directly supervised by his office and the office of the Minister of State to ensure compliance.
Speaking to newsman after the meeting with the contractors on Monday evening, the Minister disclosed that the Millennium Tower and Cultural Center will be given priority attention.
He said, “ I can tell you that it will not be easy going into that project, but I can equally tell you that we have decided that for whatever it takes, it will be one of the legacy projects for Mr. President to complete in the upcoming years. Certainly, we are looking at the next two years, if the way we are going to structure our payment is agreeable with the contractors.’
He disclosed that the resurfacing of major roads in Garki, Wuse Maitama and Asokoro will begin in earnest as the contractors will be mobilized to site immediately.
The Minister further disclosed that very soon contractors will be paid to mobilize black to site for the rehabilitation of the Abuja Metro line.
Meanwhile, Wike said that plans are underway to rededicate two Saturdays of every month to city sanitation as environmental sanitation exercise as sanitation days to allow residents to clean up their environment, saying that “Abuja must be clean” and called for the cooperation of all residents in this regard.
He promised to get President Tinubu permission to secure at least two Saturdays in a month for sanitation days , from 7 am to 10am with the collaboration of some companies to provide logistics to clear up the refuse.
The Minister did not omit plans to revive the public transportation sector of the FCT with the re-introduction of the AUM TCO buses, just as he complained about the presence of several undeveloped plots of land and uncompleted structures which criminals use as hideouts to perpetrate crimes.
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