The Federal Government has approved the N310 billion road project which covers three main roads, the Ibadan -Ife-IIesa Expressway, the roads linking the second Niger Bridge to Asaba and Onitsha and the Kano-Katsina Highway.
This was approved at yesterdays Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting. Work and House Minister Babatunde Fashola told State House reporters at the end of FEC meeting chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa that the projects were contained in three memos.Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajuba and the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande were also present.
According to him, FEC approved N79.82 billion for Ibadan-Ilesa-Ife road, N200.176 billion for roads linking second Niger Bridge to Asaba and Onitsha, and N29.654 billion for phase 2 of Kano-Katsina highway.
He said: “The Ministry of Works and Housing presented three memoranda and they were approved by the council: construction of Ibadan -Ilesa-Ife Dual Carriage Way, they are connected to Oyo and Osun State at the cost of N79.829 billion.
“Secondly, for the link-road that connects the second Niger Bridge to Asaba and Onitsha. The Asaba link-road was awarded to Julius Berger and the Onitsha link-road was awarded to RCC at the total cost of N200.176 billion.
“So, this completes essentially the access road that will link the bridge in the short time. You might recall that these roads were under-designed when the bridge was awarded.
“It is this administration that completed the design and we now awarded them so that you can have a bridge that has link-roads. This was awarded initially under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) and the bridge in 2010 administration.
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“The third approval was for phase two of the Kano-Katsina High Way from the point known as Gidan-Mutum Daya, all the way to where Katsina Steel Rolling Mill is. This is a 78-kilometer stretch approved at the sum of N29.654 billion.
“That road is a 152KM road linking Kano and Katsina road from Kano. It was a single length highway until it was awarded in 2013 by the previous administration in phase 1.
“So, we inherited it and we have continued to execute it. The award was to then expand the road into a dual carriage highway way. That means we are constructing the existing one and building another new one. It was awarded for the first 70-kilometer plus for the Phase I, What we have now done is to complete the award to the same contractor so that there is a uniformity of construction,”