Wike Expresses Doubts Over Capacity of Contractor Handling Apo-Karshi Road

By: Wisdom Acka

FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, Thursday, paid another inspection visit to the much anticipated Apo-Karshi road project.

Wike had visited the ongoing road project in May when he ordered the contractor to mobilize to site and complete the work soon.

Speaking during the second visit, he said: “Obviously, we thought that within seven months, they ought to have completed, but unfortunately, the contractors were not able to move to site because of some procurement processes. But thank God we have passed that stage and they have also been mobilized to move to site.”

The Minister, however, expressed doubts over the capacity of Contractor; stressing, “I will not say lie to you. I still have my doubts, but they are still insisting that by April (2025) they would have completed this project.”

His words: “It is a project that is very dear to us. We know the importance of this road, so many people are eager to see that this project is completed on time, so that it will ease off alot of traffic, so that, it will boost the economy of this area.”

The Minister, thus, urged: “Let us give them the benefits of the doubts. I believe that they will play their own part by doing what they are supposed to do.”

He revealed that there was enough funds for the contractor, but would only be released when it shows signs of improvement and capacity on site.

“The funds are there to be given to them, and we believe that if they put more efforts, if I come here again and see that they have improved on what we have seen on group today, I will tell the Treasury Department to release further funds to them,” Wike said.

“But for now, let’s watch them. But we are very serious with this project”, he stated.

Asked whether he would terminate the contract and re-award it to a competent contractor, the Minister argued: “So many people don’t understand that when you cancel a project, there are a lot of implications for it, and so we don’t want that.”

“There are financial implications, there are legal implications, and so many things. So what we are saying is that, we would continue to encourage the contractor, to see that he finishes this project on time, because we are ready and we will not have any problems from our own side”, he emphasized.

Commenting on ongoing rehabilitation work on the 18 kilometer Nyanya-Karu-Orozo road, the Minister disclosed that he noticed the poor state of the road during a recent visit and wrote to President Bola Tinubu, who gave his approval for immediate rehabilitation; adding that the repairs would be completed in eight months.