After Huge Investment, FG Cancels Dantata and Sawoe’s 2007 Kano-Maiduguri Road Contract

The Federal Government has formally revoked the contract for Section 1 of the Kano-Maiduguri Road, which was awarded in 2007 to Dantata & Sawoe Ltd, one of the contracts on the highway that has faced setbacks and delays for over the last 17 years.

This was made known in a statement released on the Ministry’s website and signed by the minister of works’ special media aide, Uchenna Orji. The reason, according to the Minister of Works, David Umahi, was that the contract period had elapsed.

He stated that the government is committed to delivering on time and ensuring that all projects, not just those in this scope but all projects of excessive length and duration, are executed and provide value for the money.

Apart from terminating the contract, Umahi said there are plans to review and reconsider the time frame within which such liability on federal jobs would be incurred.

The aim is to have projects not just meet set deadlines but also offer durability and the best value for money spent by the public.

“Going forward, there will be an agreement on clear timelines for the completion of milestones on all ongoing projects under the Tax Credit Scheme,” Umahi said.

He insisted on the need for accountability, saying that the Ministry would no longer tolerate a situation whereby projects would continue to drag on without visible progress.

“My position as the Minister of Works is that everybody must take responsibility. We would no longer fold our hands and allow the projects we have awarded and even reviewed to continue to linger,” he added.

The minister also directed an immediate assessment of a section of the dualised Kano-Maiduguri Road cut off by floods in Bauchi State following heavy rainfall.

The directive is part of the response to the damage, which has severely impacted the Malori-Guskuri community in Katsina Local Government Area.

In a statement issued by the Ministry, he assured the Bauchi State Governor of prompt intervention to alleviate road users’ hardship.

He instructed the Director of Highway Rehabilitation to work closely with the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Works to deploy a technical team to evaluate the damage and recommend emergency solutions.

Recall the Ministry also recently faced setbacks on the proposed Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road, and the controversies surrounding the project led to the announcement that it will no longer embark on the realignment after it demolished businesses worth millions of dollars for the purported realignment.

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Oluwasegun Sanusi

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