The Zamfara Government on Thursday said it had spent N57.3 billion on the reconstruction of 600 Kilometers of roads belonging to the Federal Government in the state.
The state Commissioner for Works, Alhaji Mu’azu Nalado, told newsmen in Gusau shortly after the Senate Committee on Works, led by Sen. Kabiru Gaya, visited the state for an oversight function.
Nalado said that the committee during the visit inspected some of the roads reconstructed by the state government.
He said the state government had already submitted the reports containing all the names, locations and total length of the roads and money spent on each.
According to the commissioner, there are still areas of contention over the ownership of some of the roads reconstructed by the state.
He told the committee that the Federal Ministry of Works had indicated that any road not gazetted and without route number would not be considered as federal government road.
“But we at the state government level have considered all the reconstructed roads as federal government roads because they are all federal government roads.
“We have already presented this issue to the senate committee and they promised to look into the matter and resolve it amicably,’’ the commissioner said.
Nalado said the state government had also spent about N200 million for emergency repairs of washed away sections of Gusau-Sokoto and Kaura-Shinkafi-Sabonbirni Highways owned by the federal government.
He said the state government had spent N20 billion for the construction of various state owned roads, saying some were completed while others were ongoing.
“When the present administration in the state under the leadership of Alhaji Abdul’aziz Yari came into power in 2011, almost all the roads in the state both federal and state government owned were dilapidated.
“Therefore, we have no option than to embark on road construction to address one of the major problems affecting our people,” he said.
The commissioner listed the reconstructed federal roads as Sokoto-border-Dakitakwas-Kebbi border, Dakitakwas-Mayanchi junction, Gusau-Kasuwar Daji and Kauran Namoda-Gidan Jaja roads.
He said that the other road was the Wanke-Keta-Danjibga- Bilbis-Kucheri, inaugurated by President Muhammad Buhari in 2016.
“We also have Talata-Mafara-Rini-Faru-Jambako-Gora-Boko-Lambar Book road which was completed in 2013 and also inaugurated by President Muhammad Buhari when he was a presidential candidate.” (NAN)