Federal Executive Council (FEC) yesterday approved the establishment of a four-man ministerial committee on speedy completion of East-West road in the Niger Delta and N142.5 billion for construction of roads across the country.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi; Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, at a joint press briefing at the end of the council meeting in Abuja. Amaechi, who spoke on the appointment of ministerial committee to be chaired by him, said members of the Committee would undertake an inspection tour of the East-West road with a view to ensuring its speedy completion.
He said members of the committee are Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed; Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Usani Uguru Usani; and the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola.
He said the Council also approved N1.67 billion for the procurement of equipment for the Lagos-Kano narrow gauge in line with an initial interim agreement signed between the federal government and the GE (General Electric). The council also approved N1.2 billion for the purchase of 18 flat-bed wagons to be operated on the narrow gauge rail line by the Nigerian Railway Corporation. Also speaking, Fashola said the Council approved N99.01 billion for the repair and maintenance works on the 3rd Mainland Bridge in Lagos and construction of various roads across the country.
He said N18.874 billion out of the amount would be expended on the maintenance of the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos as part of the federal government National Bridge Maintenance Strategy. He said the third mainland bridge contract was awarded to one of the original contractors for the project, Messrs Borini Prono of Italy, adding that the construction company was expected to carry out maintenance works on 33 out of the 177 piles of the bridge which were in critical condition.
He said part of the repair works on the bridge would also involve the maintenance of General Expansion Joint Replacement and will be completed within 27 months.
“The federal government has initially approved N96.304 billion for the LagosIbadan road project. With approval by FEC, the project has been revised to N176.5 billion. FEC also approved the N38.034 billion for the construction of the 9th mile-Orikam road in Enugu state which is 72 kilometers. About N10 billion is to be drawn from the Ecological Fund to fund the project,” he said.
