Fashola - FG pledges better funding of road projects nationwide – Minister

The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, said the Federal Government would henceforth ensure better funding of the various ongoing road projects across the country.
Fashola stated this
in Abuja on Tuesday at a meeting he held with contractors handling
various Federal Government’s projects in the country.
Fashola
told the contractors that funds would be made available in line with
the Federal Government’s commitment to ensure that contractors were paid
quarterly.
He, however, urged the
contractors to ensure that roads across the country were made passable
ahead of the yuletide season by ensuring that failed sections of their
various projects were rehabilitated.
Fashola
said the meeting was called for the contractors to inform the public
what they should expect from the companies in the last months of the
year when traffic is going to be heavy.
The
minister called on the contractors to ensure that they regularly
informed members of the public of challenges contractors faced during
raining seasons in the construction sector.
“Let
the Nigerian people know what is happening on our roads when they are
not maintained during the raining season, also this happens in other
part of the world.
“Even with
the best of maintenance, some rains are heavy and sometimes causes
flooding, you will lose some of the infrastructure like it happened in
some parts of America,” he said.
In
their various contributions at the meeting, the contractors called for
better funding regime to address the current deplorable state of roads
across the country.
They blamed the deplorable state of roads on rains and poor funding.
In his contribution, Mr Wolfgang Goetsch,
the Managing Director of Julius Berger PLC, blamed the slow pace of
project execution by his company across the country on inadequate
funding.
He said construction business
was capital intensive that requires proper funding for future planning
and management of both human and capital resources.
Goetsch
pledged the readiness of Julius Berger to expedite actions when funds
were released as scheduled for the execution of its projects ahead of
the yuletide season.
Mr Nabeel Esawi,
the Chief Engineer, Renold Construction Company (RCC), blamed the slow
pace of project execution on the heavy rains, particularly in the
southern part of the country.
He said
tremendous progress would be made during the dry season, adding that RCC
had commenced the rehabilitation of failed sections of roads being
handled by the company .
Fashola - FG pledges better funding of road projects nationwide – Minister
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