The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, on Wednesday, said the total amount outstanding for payment to contractors for duly certified and approved works for highway and bridge projects as of October 20, 2021, was N420,583,705,963.48.
According to him, this underscores the government’s efforts towards securing several alternative sources of funding.
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He spoke in Abuja when he appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Works to defend his ministry’s 2022 budget.
He said apart from the pressure of resources to pay, there was the inadequacy of annual budgetary provisions “where N100m or N200m is provided for roads costing 20 or more billions of naira”.
He said his ministry was working with all stakeholders to start operations of weight bridges at Nigerian ports and fuel depots to minimise the destruction of roads caused by overloading.
“Some people are doing business at the expense of everybody. So, they should carry 60,70 tones in three trucks, they’re cheating by loading onto one truck and they’re destroying our common road assets.
“So, we need to rise up as a nation, not just government to put an end to it and people do the proper thing. It’s important that I said this,” Fashola said.
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