Abuja- The FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Bello, on Friday said that the approved construction of the 3,050 megawatts Mambilla Hydro-Power project would boost road completion in Abuja.
Bello, who was a guest on the NTA Live-news broadcast NTA in Abuja, spoke on the approved construction of the 3, 050 megawatts Hydro-Power project by the Federal Executive Council.
The Hydro-Power project located at Gembu in Taraba cost at $5.792 billion (about N1.140 trillion).
He said poor electricity power supply have hindered ongoing road construction projects in the city centre.
“We all know how power challenges in the country has really held us back, it has not allowed us unleash the enormous potentials that this country has.
“Obviously we will benefit from this because we need enormous amount of electricity power supply, to be able to run street light system in Abuja.
“The road network is first class in areas that are completed, but powering the street lights is a huge challenge.
“We have a network of about 200 to 300 km of roads within the FCT, which are all supposed to be powered from what we get from the national grid.”
He identified continuity of uncompleted road projects with limited resources to be major challenge that had hindered growth of the FCT in the past two years.
He decried difficulty in the efforts by the Federal Capital Territory Administration to fully complete projects to make life convenient for Abuja residents within specific period.
“When we came into power two years ago we realized that there were so many projects that needed to be completed.
“We were faced with stack reality that Abuja was growing at 20 per cent annually with massive influx of people and the need to keep pace with it.
“It became very clear that if nothing was done immediately, the city may not be able to cope with the existing facilities, so we prioritized the projects based on available resources.”
Bello said that the FCT 2018 budget would be focused on construction of infrastructure, particularly road and the completion of Abuja light-rail system, which would commence operation in December.
“The budget is also meant to continue funding main road work that we are doing; these are roads that bring a lot of people into Abuja and take them out.
“The Airport express-way is almost completed, the Kubwa express-way is completed, it is going to be off-budget this year.
“Then the one that links Keffi, Nyanya and AYA into the city are not completed, but partial sections have been opened, to reduce travel time into Abuja.
“Other areas we want to concentrate on are Obafemi Awolowo road that goes towards Karimo fish market, Dutse-Alhaji in Bwari and Dei-Dei leading to Karimo,” Bello said.
He said that contract had been awarded for road construction in Karu community, described as one of the largest satellite towns within the FCT.
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