Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara says President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime has approved the construction of the Kishi-Kaiama road at N27 billion.

Mr AbdulRazaq said the breakthrough with Abuja explained why the state government has now stopped its ongoing work on the road.

Kwara had taken over the construction of the road in phases to ease transportation challenges along the busy corridor.

This is contained in a statement issued on Monday by the Kwara government.

“The federal ministry of works has informed us that we should stop work on that road because they have got new approval from the federal government, and the contract for the road has been reissued at N27 billion,” it stated.

Mr AbdulRazaq announced this in Ilorin at the first Kwara North Economic and Development Summit organised by Kwara North Development Council (KWANDCO).

“There is (a) huge infrastructural deficit in the whole of Nigeria, in Kwara state, and especially in Kwara North. Now, what are we doing about it as a government? The Kishi-Kaiama road is very important for the whole of the country because of the volume of trade in farm produce,” he said.

According to the statement, the contract was first awarded over 10 years ago.

The governor said his administration had already started work on the federal road before the federal works ministry stepped in.

The ministry said the previous Kwara government gave the contract to a company that did not meet BPE requirements.

“Our latest communication with them was that they want to re-award the contract and that our own contractor should vacate the site. That is why you will see that work has stopped on Kishi-Kaiama road,” said Mr AbdulRazaq.

The governor promised that work would begin on the Bode-Saadu-Kaiama-Kosubosu road next year “using the road tax infrastructure scheme with BUA Group,” the statement disclosed. “We have been on that discussion with BUA to open up Bode-Saadu-Kaiama-Kosubosu road. Most of our major roads are federal roads, and they are in deplorable conditions.”

The Kwara governor assured the people of the state that his administration would improve the specifications of state roads to make them last longer.

(NAN)