Niger state government says it will spend about N250 million on the repairs of the Minna-Bida road to make it accessible and reduce hardship faced by commuters on a daily basis.
Alhaji Ibrahim Panti, the state Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure Development, disclosed this while briefing newsmen on the state of affairs on roads network and road traffic across the state in Minna on Friday.
He explained that the state government had budgeted the money for immediate repairs of the road pending the release of the 181 million US Dollars Islamic Development Bank facility loan meant for the dualization of road.
Panti added that advert of bidding to affect the reconstruction of the road would be placed on Nov. 25 to determine a competent company to do the project.
He noted that the restriction of movement on the road by heavy trucks was still in force to enable the government to carry out major repairs on the road.
According to him, the state governor alongside a delegation from the state had visited President Muhammadu Buhari in 2018 to seek for immediate intervention on the deplorable state of federal roads across the state.
“The president promised to intervene, but as you all can see nothing has been done yet. Therefore, as a government, we cannot continue to see our people going to so much hardship and that is why we have decided to intervene on the roads to reduce the hardship being faced daily,” he said.
The commissioner called on the people of the state to exercise more patience, adding that the Bida-Lapai-Lambata road was under repairs in order to divert traffic to the route.
He noted that efforts were being put in place to ensure that all Federal roads and state-owned were motorable.
Panti, however, disclosed that the state government had spent about N5 billion on the reconstruction of Minna-Suleja road for easy movement.