MUHAMMAD BELLO AND FCT ROAD PROJECTS
Earlier in the year, the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello did promise that projects that had started in line with the Abuja Master plan and for which budgetary provisions have been made would be given priority.
The minister reasoned that the present FCT Administration could not afford to continue the legacy of waste by following the trend of abandoning projects started byhis predecessors, amidst the harsh economic realities and for the sake of the people.
Bello was quite emphatic that abandoning projects would not only fuel corruption but would also reduce the confidence that the general public places in governance.
Today, it gladdens the heart that despite the recession, the FCT Minister has followed through on his words by ensuring that critical ongoing road projects he met on ground are given the desired impetus to ensure that work continues with some of them partially completed and opened to the public for use.
One of the projects that readily come to mind is the gateway into and out of the capital city – the trumpet overhead bridge linking the Bill Clinton Drive with the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua Expressway (Airport Road) and Gwagwalada-Giri axis.
Before the coming of this present administration, that segment of the airport road, including some stretch towards the Gosa Village area regarded as the Centenary, remained uncompleted. As a result, traffic coming from the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport had to be redirected to take a u-turn around the Giri axis of the road and then the traffic coming from Gwagwalada to the Airport, had to go through some clumsy arrangements because that portion had remained uncompleted, arising from non-payment of accrued liabilities to the contractor.
As a result of these lapses, driving on that road at the time became a huge nightmare with the huge traffic buildup doubling the time it took motorists to get into and out of the city. A lot of people also missed their flight because of the traffic holdup encountered along this road.
But when the present FCT Administration came on board, the minister took cognisance of the importance of this road, especially for the in-bound traffic and out bound to the airport and he dedicated to clear all the outstanding liabilities to the contractor of this project. Now the bridge has been completed, fully opened to traffic because of the commitment of the administration and the acceptance of the contractor that his liabilities have successfully been paid and they therefore came back and delivered the project. The man-hour hitherto being lost on that road is now a thing of the past and economic activities have also been improved.
Beside the airport road, there is the Inner Southern Expressway (ISEX) around the Nyanya/Keffi axis of the city. Without any doubt, this is one of the major infrastructure projects of the city. During the last one year, the contractors have been able to connect the railway bridge and all the other intersections along that road and now the final portion of the road is being readied for launching.
The ISEX bridge is one of the longest bridges in Abuja under construction. It is about 400 metres and this is a road that has quietly been worked upon for the last few months for which most people did not know about. By the time this road is done, the entire segment, right from the Nyanya axis, right through AYA, to the Villa bridge, right through to the Louis Edet bridge, across the Rivers State House, right through to the CBN and crossing the massive ISEX bridge will link up the entire area up to Galadimawa. Of course this is going to create a very major arterial road within the city that will open up and ease traffic.
More importantly also, about a kilometre from the ISEX bridge, it is going to link up to the road traversing the diplomatic centre, so that it will go as an underpass and burst out around the two twin towers, which will link up to the Abuja Metro line station. By the time this is done, it’s really going to make this city more beautiful than it is. The contractors have fulfilled their promises based on the payments that the FCT Administration have been making to them and as well as the level of supervision given FCTA engineers.
All of these developments are heartwarming because if you have a hundred projects and none is completed, no matter how much the resources you commit to them, you may end up doing them at twice the cost. Danladi Akilu, Gudu District, FCT, Abuja