President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved funding for the Second Niger Bridge two bypasses, Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria- ano and Lagos-Ibadan Highway. Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, who disclosed this at the weekend, did not disclose the total amount released.

According to him, the development would remove the financial bottlenecks on the three projects.

He said this during the inspection of the Lafia Bypass Road and Dualisation of the 9th Mile (Enugu)-Otukpo-Makurdi Road Project in Makurdi, the Benue State capital.

The 260- kilometre project is located in the South East of Nigeria, crossing Federal Capital Territory, Nasarawa, Benue and Enugu states.

The Export-Import Bank of Nigeria and the Federal Government jointly fund the projects.

While 85 per cent of the project is funded by Export-Import Bank, 15 per cent is funded by the Federal Government. The project which will be delivered in 48 months is  handled by China Harbour Nigeria Limited. The minister, who had earlier inspected the Mararaba-Keffi reconstruction and expansion project, thanked the Benue State governor, Reverend Father Hyacinth Alia and his Enugu State counterpart, Mr. Peter Mbah for setting up taskforce committees to provide security on the sites of the project.

“We are from Abuja to Mararaba to Keffi. That is an ongoing project of dualisation and it is 43km. It is being done with Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) funding. Whatever impeded the funding, graciously, God lifted it and the president has approved in all zones of the country that the job should go ahead.

“We noticed that there is a lot of hold-up around the beginning of the project.  So I have asked them to study it because the essence of governance is for the convenience of the people. So, if we have a lot of hold-ups there, people can’t plan. So, we have directed that we should have a flyover at the location to ease it,” Umahi said.

Source: The Sun