The Federal Government has assured that the Kaduna-Zaria to Kano highway, two sections from the Abuja-Kaduna-Zara-Kano highway, would be completed before the end of the year.
Speaking at an inspection tour of roads under construction and Rehabilitation in Northwestern states in Kaduna, the Director Highways, Construction and Rehabilitation of the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, Engr. Folorunso Esan, said construction on the two sections of the road is going on as planned.
The construction of the 375-kilometer road was awarded to Julius Berger in 2017 with a mandate to complete the project in 36 months.
But actual construction commenced in 2018 and Nigerians have cast doubt over its timely completion due to low pace of work.
While speaking during the inspection, Engr. Esan expressed optimism that Nigerians will be able to have access to the entire road by 2023 as work on the two sections have gone a long way.
“The pace of work and the quality are satisfactory and it will be delivered before the ending of this year. This section two and three will be delivered this year and will remain only Abuja-Kaduna,” he said.
When asked why the same energy was it exerted on construction the Abuja-Kaduna section, he said, “It is the same road and if you deliver a section of the road, that means you have finished a part of the job, when we finish this section two that means we can move and concentrate our resources on section one and by the time.”
On his part the site manager of the section 2, Theo Scheepers, said the company is doing its best to deliver the section as scheduled.
He said over 70 percent of work had been completed from the section as 112 kilometres of the road is motorable from the 150kilometers of the section.