FCT Minister Doubts Capacity Of Contractor To Complete Abuja’s Jinxed Road

FCT Minister Doubts Capacity Of Contractor To Complete Abuja’s Jinxed Road

* FCT Minister, Wike & officials inspecting the jinxed Apo-Karshi project on Thursday

FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, Thursday, paid another inspection visit to the jinxed Apo-Karshi road project which has dragged and remained uncompleted for over 13 years.

Wike had visited the ongoing road project in May when he ordered the contractor to mobilize to site and complete the work soon.

Speaking during the second visit, he said: “Obviously, we thought that within seven months, they ought to have completed, but unfortunately, the contractors were not able to move to site because of some procurement processes. But thank God we have passed that stage and they have also been mobilized to move to site.”

The Minister, however, expressed doubts over the capacity of Contractor; stressing, “I will not say lie to you. I still have my doubts, but they are still insisting that by April (2025) they would have completed this project.”

His words: “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 project is completed on time, so that it will ease off alot of traffic, so that, it will boost the economy of this area.”

The Minister, thus, urged: “Let us give them the benefits of the doubts. I believe that they will play their own part by doing what they are supposed to do.”

He revealed that there was enough funds for the contractor, but would only be released when it shows signs of improvement and capacity on site.

“The funds are there to be given to them, and we believe that if they put more efforts, if I come here again and see that they have improved on what we have seen on group today, I will tell the Treasury Department to release further funds to them,” Wike said.

“But for now, let’s watch them. But we are very serious with this project”, he stated.

Asked whether he would terminate the contract and re-award it to a competent contractor, the Minister argued: “So many people don’t understand that when you cancel a project, there are a lot of implications for it, and so we don’t want that.”

“There are financial implications, there are legal implications, and so many things. So what we are saying is that, we would continue to encourage the contractor, to see that he finishes this project on time, because we are ready and we will not have any problems from our own side”, he emphasized.

The Apo- Karshi road was awarded in 2011 by the past FCT Administration of Senator Bala Mohammed during President Goodluck Jonathan era.

The contract sum then was N6,355,609,124.53  but adequate funding remained a major challenge over the years despite the bypass road having a high prospect of helping to decongest traffic flow in Abuja metropolis. 

The biggest obstacle till date to the actualization of the project was the massive location of a gigantic 60-meter tall tough rocky mountain on the way of the proposed road. Several tales of Gbagyi superstition of impregnability and invincibility surround the stubborn rock. 

All efforts to blast and level the rock have so far failed with many caterpillars and earth moving bulldozers destroyed in the process at its foot. But the new FCT supremo, Wike has vowed to overawe the local superstition and blast the invincible mountain to pieces. The added condition is that bigger funds are needed and possibly a more capable contractor should be drafted in to do the magic.

Other concerns, in addition  to the fact that the contract did not take into adequate cognizance the huge rocks and valleys on the road axis included that there was no “appropriate engineering design for the Karshi – Apo section which spans above five out of the over 13kms of the entire length of the project.

What is on card now is about how much will be required to be appropriated to complete the jinxed project. The contractor is bidding for contract variation that may catapult the cost of completing the project to a sum ranging close to N100 billion.

While this is still on the table, the FCT Minister and the FCDA are said to be doubting the capacity of the contractor hence the delay in forwarding an approval memo to the federal executive council (FEC).

A source told IMAGE NEWS Abuja that trusted construction giant, Julius Berger Plc may be drafted in to share the outstanding works on the project with the original contractor. The German multinational company is particularly expected to handle the arduous part of the project that has to do with leveling the superstitious mountain and filling the big valleys. It’s only when this is done that the project delivery in real time can become feasible, a top FCTA source confided in IMAGE NEWS Abuja.