The permanent secretary of the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, Shuaib Belgore, has assured civil servants of better office facilities.

Mr Belgore said this in a statement  on Tuesday. Mr Belgore spoke in Osogbo, Osun, when he led an inspection team from his ministry on a tour of the federal government’s ongoing projects.

“The federal government would hasten work to deliver the Federal Secretariat, Osogbo, Osun, to enable civil servants to have better office accommodations to discharge their duties efficiently. Work at the Osogbo Federal Secretariat has reached an advanced stage of completion,” he said.

The permanent secretary explained that contracts for federal secretariats awarded at the same time as that of Osun were for Anambra, Bayelsa, Gombe, Nasarawa, and Zamfara.

He expressed satisfaction with the quality and progress of work at Osogbo and assured the contractor that his request for variation would be secured to enable the release of funds needed for its completion.

Meanwhile, Mr Belgore had also observed an appreciable level of work in the ongoing construction of the Osogbo Renewed Hope Estate.

He, however, instructed the contractors to scale up their work and promised to facilitate their payments after they met their valuation requirements.

“The government is enthusiastic and optimistic with this project and will not hesitate to review and take decisions, including termination of contract for non-performing contractors,” he emphasised.

Mr Belgore, who also visited the ministry’s field office in Osogbo, assured the civil servants that the ministry has made its operations easier in terms of correspondence with the headquarters.

This, he said, was achieved by going digital, with computers being provided for field offices to ease their workload.

Earlier, Olakulehin Kabir, the project manager of Golden Construction Company Ltd, the contractor handling the work, told the team that the project had achieved 80 percent completion.

He, therefore, requested that the ministry speed up the approval for the variation and release of funds to enable them to deliver.

(NAN)