SAN FRANCISCO, February 11, (THEWILL) –
Ahead of the March 8th diversion of flights from Abuja to the Kaduna airport to allow for the repair of the Abuja airport, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola has assured that the Abuja-Kaduna road would be freed of potholes to ensure safety of commuters moving into Abuja from the Kaduna airport.
Fashola, who gave this assurance on Friday in Kaduna during an inspection of the project, said the repairs currently being executed on the highway was an emergency to remove the potholes to make it safe for road users.
His words, “The project is not to build the road yet, what we are doing is emergency, to remove all potholes to reduce the risk of accident during the six week closure of Abuja Airport.
“As you can see, some section has been resurfaced completely but that is not the main reconstruction of the road, so let’s be clear of what is being done.
“The whole contract for this emergency intervention is to cover the potholes on the entire length of 160 kilometres, two lanes on one side and another two lanes on the other side.
“That is, to cover 620 kilometres portholes for about N1 billion contract and that is not the amount we need to build the road.”
The Minister stated that “We are optimistic that we will deliver on our own end to support the Ministry of Transport to do the airport repairs”. He disclosed that the contract for the building of the road was currently undergoing procurement process before the Bureau of Public Procurement, BPP.
Fashola pointed out that the road was completed in the early 90s when it was expanded from a single carriage to a dual carriage way, adding that the highway had not witnessed any major repairs since it was built over two decades ago.
He assured that the rebuilding of the road would commence as soon as the procurement process was completed.
Within the six weeks that the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, would be closed for repairs, air traffic and passengers would be diverted from Abuja to Kaduna.
