Residents lament over uncompleted Abuja-Jere road
Construction work at the Abuja-Jere Road has been suspended for more than four months now.
The road project which connects Barangoni, Bwari Area Council to Jere, Kaduna State, had been left in bad shape for more than two years. Residents now attribute the rising cases of accidents and loss of lives on the road to its dilapidated state.
The road popularly called SCC road leads to Jere Junction and has become helpful to motorists going to Kaduna, especially when the Kaduna expressway was bad.
They said their relatives had been victims of hit and run drivers that drive recklessly on the road. The road is replete with potholes and diversions at various points.
The road is an alternative route which motorists connect the Kaduna expressway through Jere. Since the contract was awarded more than three years ago it is yet to be completed construction workers were recently mobilised to the site only for the contractors to stop work after just a few months. The situation led to some culverts bridges, drainages and some lanes to remain uncompleted. Some residents fear that the rainy season could outdone the project.
Residents in some communities on the road including Dofe, Issah, Begye said the officials of the Setraco Construction Company (SCC), handling the road were last seen on site sometimes in December, 2016.
They said construction equipment were long evacuated from site for more than three months adding that the road has become dreaded owing to the number of accidents that occurred there.
The district head of Gujeru, Philibus Tukura said the work on the second lane in the supposed expressway started in 2016.
He said the residents were elated when the project started hoping that it would open several opportunities to the communities.
“We felt much happy and having it in our mind that we are now close to the FCT, that we will gain access easily to other places,” he said. After five months their hope wane as the road project grounds to a halt.
He said residents that were ecstatic about the project when it started are now cold as the completion date remains unknown. He said they fear that the project could remain uncompleted longer than they had thought.
He said the residents had hoped that the project would continue with the pace at which it was started.
“When completed, it will boost our economy because we will be able to market our products,” he said while identifying some of the opportunities the communities could benefit from the project.
Tukura said as the company removed their ‘useful equipment’ in their yard their confidence in timely completion of the project wanes daily.
He was however quick to add that the road as it is portend danger to the people of the communities.
“Our movement is always at risk because we are afraid, as motorists always drive on top speed,” he said recounting that many people have been killed on the road.
“It has led to serious problem, we don’t sell our farm produce like before, the road is now converted into a one way, many people have been killed by hit and run drivers,” he said.
Such drivers made one Alice Jefta a widow at a young age. Her husband, Jefta Ishaku was coming from Jere on a motorcycle when he was knocked down by a hit and run driver few kilometres to the community.
Alice said since his demise, things had been difficult for her and that her husband would have still been alive if the government had completed the road project. Ishaku’s younger brother Peter said their mother was yet to recover from the loss.
The district head said Alice’s case was not an isolated as more than 20 families had lost someone from road accidents on the road.
A resident of Dofe, one of the communities through which the road passes, David Emmanuel said the road as it is poses a threat to the lives of residents especially farmers.
He said one lane has been left uncompleted, leading to the congestion on the other lane. He said many vehicles have crashed into the road median while he appealed to the government to revisit the project.
“I noticed that after Christmas we did not see them, they have parked their machines in the main yard in Abuja but some are still on site,” he said.
He said they had thought the workers were going for Christmas holiday until it dawned on them they were not returning any time soon.
“Since then, they (SCC workers) just monitor the road but I know they are doing some things in the site office.
“I was happy when they started but now I am feeling bad because since the other road was not completed, the road median has led to some accidents.
“When you are riding on your motorcycle and another vehicle wants to overtake you, they endanger the motorcyclists because the road is narrow. And I feel bad because of the happenings,” he said.
He said the situation was beyond the control of the residents as they do not have the financial clout to sponsor the project as such they could only pray that something should happen fast because people were dying.
“They are killing people here through accidents. In fact an accident happened yesterday. The vehicle crashed into a road median though nobody died but the vehicle was damaged,” he said.
The district head, Tukura said nobody knows why construction was suspended but said some of the residents who worked as security guards in the company said the government had not released money for the project.
An SCC official at the site office on the road, said, “Site has been closed while some equipment were moved to the main yard.”
The official, who could not be named, as he was not cleared to talk to the press, could not however give reasons why the construction work was suspended. He, however, said the equipment moved to the main yard could be returned in no time when staff are mobilised back to site.