Federal Government says it will deliver Sections II and III, of the Kaduna Zaria Road by the end of 2022.
Mr. Folorunsho Esan, the Director, Highway Construction and Rehabilitation, Federal Ministry of Works and Housing (FMWH) who led a team of officials from the ministry, gave the assurance at a two-day inspection of the Sections II and III of the project on Thursday in Kaduna.
Section II is a 146 kilometres, while section III is 14 kilometres and joins up with the Kaduna-Abuja section.
According to him, looking at the extent of work already done by the contractor, the work will be completed within the year.
“From what I’m seeing now, this project, Section ll will be delivered before the end of the year.
“This section two & three will be delivered this year, it’s only Abuja, Kaduna project that will be left.
“It’s the same road and if you deliver a section of road that means you’ve finished part of the job.
“If you finish this section II, that means we can concentrate our resources on section I and by the time we get to section III tomorrow, you will see that that one is also going on very fast,” Esan said.
On possible challenges faced by the contractor, Esan said every challenge brought to the notice of the ministry had been addressed, adding that nothing would hinder the work.
Also at the inspection site, Mr Theo Scheepers, Project Manager, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, said the road would be completed six months ahead of projected completion time.
According to him, what would have been challenges to the project has been resolved through the support of the ministry and cooperation of stakeholders such as local government chairmen and community leaders.
“We work hand in hand with the ministry and we solve this problems on a weekly basis but as we enter new work zone, we face new challenges.
“We get all the stakeholders on board, local government, the local leaders and we have great cooperation; so far from my side, it’s not really challenges.
it’s just small hurdles we have to overcome, so challenge is not really the word, I’ll call it a hurdle. We will complete six months ahead of schedule,” Scheepers said.