Federal lawmakers have scored the Federal Capital Territory Administration high on the number of projects executed across the territory despite the paucity of funds allocated to sectors of the economy.
Chairman of the Senate Committee on FCT, Senator Tolu Odebiyi, gave the commendation on Thursday in Abuja, during an oversight visit to some key infrastructural projects under construction.
Odebiyi, who expressed satisfaction at the level of completion of most of the projects visited, assured that the National Assembly will prioritize any project that requires urgent attention.
“In the twilight of this administration which is about 10 months or thereabout, it is important that we catalogue all the projects that has been done, prioritize the ones that must be completed before the end of this term so that we can make sure that we provide the adequate funding and budgets for such projects. The FCT budget is going to be forwarded to us soon and it’s important that we come and see the state of the work and their completion rate.
“We will make sure that any of the projects that requires priority is given the due attention so as to elevate and increase efficiency.”
The minister of the FCT, Mallam Muhammad Bello, while taking the lawmakers through projects, stressed that the need to fast track the provision of infrastructure to meet the pace of its population surge has been quite challenging.
According to him, “Running a mega city is a huge challenge and as we all know over the past five years, demographically Abuja has changed tremendously. As a matter of fact, scientific reports have clearly indicated that Abuja is one of the fastest growing city in the world. So one of the major challenge is to be able to fast-track provision of infrastructure at the pace that will match the population growth.
But more importantly, as the city continues to mature, many of the infrastructure of previous years are also maturing and requiring constant maintenance and this is one area we are deploying resources to make sure that while we build new infrastructure, we make sure that existing infrastructure is catered for.
“In the past and even presently projects are done diligently to the highest international standards that is why you see many of the bridges even though they are about 30 years old, they still remain solid and we want to extend their lifespan by making sure that we emphasis on maintenance while we continue to develop and construct, we are also going to maintain.”
Some of the projects visited include the Southern Parkway, Ring Road 1 interchange at Kaura District, ongoing Rehabilitation and expansion of the OSEX road, the B6/B12, ongoing renovation of the NASS complex.
When completed, the 65km OSEX road is expected to link to Gwagwalada, and Wasa affordable housing area, Guzape.
The minister said the next phase of the road may be completed on a Public Private Partnership basis, as the road is critical to the next phase of the city’s development.