The FCT Minister, Barrister Ezenwo Nyesom Wike on Thursday, September 26, 2024 inspected the ongoing Apo-Karshi Road project as well as the newly awarded emergency rehabilitation of the Nyanya-Karshi road project with a call on the contractors to deliver on time.
Speaking with journalists after the inspection, Barrister Wike who said that the Apo-Karshi Road project was very dear to the Administration, expressed doubt that the Contractor – Messr Kakatar, could deliver on the April 2025 deadline as promised by the contractor.
He said, “We thought that within seven months they ought to have completed but unfortunately the contractor could not move to site because of some procurement processes. But thank God we have passed that stage now and they have also been mobilised.
“I still have my doubts, I will not lie to you, but the contractors are insisting that by April they would have completed this project. It is a project that is very dear to us. We know the importance of this road. So many people are eager to see that this road is completed on time so that it will ease off a lot of traffic. It will also boost the economic activities in this area.
“So let us give them (the contractor) the benefit of doubt and believe that they will play their own part. On our own part, we are doing what we are supposed to do. The funds are there to be given to them.
“And we believe that they should put more efforts. If I come back here again and see that they have improved on what we have seen on ground today, I will tell the treasury department to release further funds to them, but for now let’s watch them because we are very serious about this project”.
The Minister who said that government is a continuum, stressed that the benefit of moving on with the project far out weights the implication of abandoning it because of the myriads of issues surrounding the award of the project and the work being done, adding that the benefits for people were government’s main priority.
He said, “There a lot of things that happened in the award of this project but we try to move on and let people not think we are playing politics, but it wasn’t good at all, I can tell you that. But we have no choice than to see that the people do not suffer”.
