11 years after, 13km Apo-Karshi Road not completed

Just like the Kuje-Gwagwalada Road, the 13.25km Apo-Karshi road is yet to be completed after it was awarded in 2011 by the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) under the administration of the former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Bala Mohammed. Daily Trust on Sunday takes a look at the state of the 11-year-old project.

The Apo-Karshi stretch road was first awarded at the cost of N6.4 billion (N6,355,609,124.53) to an indigenous construction firm (Kakarta Engineering Limited), a company owned by Azibaola Robert, a cousin of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

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The road project, according to the FCT administration, was to ease the perennial gridlock being experienced by motorists on the AYA-Nyanya-Mararaba-Keffi road.

However, the construction of the road later stopped after the 2015 general election, a situation, which resulted in a public outcry, especially among motorists/civil servants as traffic along the Nyanya-Mararaba-Keffi road worsens and almost becomes a nightmare.

On assumption of office as FCT Minister, Muhammad Musa Bello, on May 2015, ordered the contractor back to the site to continue with the construction of the Apo-Karshi road project, but since then, the completion of the road project has continued to witness a slow pace.

After the Federal Executive Council meeting on February 16, 2021, the minister had, while addressing newsmen, pledged that the Apo- Karshi road would be completed before the rainy season sets in.

Bello had attributed the delay in completion of the road project to the error of design whereby a huge rock outcrops on the alignment of the road.

“The Apo-Karshi road is a project that should have been completed by now. One of the main challenges faced in that road has to do with an error in the design whereby a huge rock outcrop on the alignment of the road corridor became very difficult to be able to arrange,” he said.

He added “But we are very happy to say it is now almost taken care of. I believe within a few months, hopefully before the onset of the rains this year, that road would be open, “the FCT minister told newsmen.

However, a visit by Daily Trust on Sunday’s reporter on Thursday showed that work on the 13 .25km stretch road was still on the slow pace especially on the rocky hill which workers of the construction firm are still battling to bring it down.

It was also observed that the road from Karshi – Wasa – Madalla, a section of the road, was still on stone base stage, while the remaining portion of the road is still in a deplorable stage.

Our reporter also observed that for some villagers who plied the road on motorcycles, on approaching the rocky hill, passengers disembark to enable the rider to climb the rocky hill to continue with their journey.

Daily Trust, however, observed that the FCT Minister’s target to complete the road project before the rain starts fully this year, may not be realistic due to heavy work that still remains undone, especially the construction of culverts on both sides, pipe boxes, drainage, which are yet to be carried out.

Yabuku Usman, a cyclist who spoke with our reporter, said it has always been tough for him to climb the rocky hill, adding that he has always asked his passengers to alight to enable him to climb the hill on speed to continue with his journey.

“In fact, it is now that people are trying to climb the portion of the hill; if it were before, no motorcycle can climb it as whenever I approach the hill, the passenger I carry will help to push the motorcycle to climb the hill,’ he said.

A worker at the site, while speaking with our reporter, on condition of anonymity, said non-release of funds by the FCT administration was one of the major challenges delaying the completion of the road project.

He said the company has been trying its best to ensure it brings down the rocky hill, which he said has been one of the major obstacles but said the company was making efforts to ensure that the road is linked down to Karshi town.

“The challenge is lack of funds to get additional equipment, which I believe if the funds are there, no matter what, we will bring down the hill because that is the major obstacle on this road as you can see it yourself,” he said.

He added, “And instead of buying diesel in the tanker, we are buying diesel in drums, which also contributes to the slow pace of the work because when diesel finishes, you have to wait till the manager brings diesel from the town before you continue with work,” he said.

Another worker at the site, who also preferred anonymity, said the rocky hill was the major obstacle, which might delay the completion of the road project before the rain started.

“The truth is that even if the funds are available, I doubt if the work will be completed before the rain starts because of this big rocky hill. And you can see how we are battling to bring it down through using dynamites and we are approaching the rainy season already,” he said.

According to him, the rain may affect the completion of the road project, since only two months is left for the rain to commence which may affect the delay in completion of the road project.

“Honestly, apart from the rocky hill, our major constraint is funds which I believe if the government will release the funds, I can assure you that the road project will definitely get to some appreciative level, he said.

Daily Trust on Sunday’s reporter, who visited the office of the Assistant Coordinator of the Satelite Towns Development Department (STDD), Mr. Felix Nwakwo, to get comments from him in Karshi, said he was not on seat.

When contacted, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Satellite Towns Development Department (STDD), Felicia Meme, declined to comments, saying “assistant coordinator cannot speak on the matter until there was a clearance letter from the Minister of State for FCT, which the department is answerable to.”