18th December, 2021
By Bridget Ikyado
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has threatened to sanction Kakatar Engineering Limited, handling the Apo-Karshi road project in Abuja over the delay in completing work.
Comrade Ogwuebu Francis, Coordinator, Satellite Towns Development Department STDD issued the threat on Saturday when he addressed newsmen. Francis, however, applauded the progress of work at the Karshi Dam project site.
The coordinator, who was on a project inspection tour of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) satellite town area expressed concern over the attitude of some contractors delaying the completion of projects considered very dear to people
He berated the contractor handling the Karshi-Apo road, saying he had no reason to delay the completion of the project since the government had played its part
According to him, the last payment tranche has already been processed and may hit the contractor’s account any moment. He described the Apo-Karshi road as one of the legacy projects of the President Muhammad Buhari administration and should be given the necessary priority by ensuring timely completion
He explained that the Karshi road would help decongest traffic on the Asokoro-Keffi road as people living in Nyanya, Karu, Jikwoyi, Gida Daya, and Orozo would have alternative and easy access to town when completed.
He advised land grabbers at Gida Daya community to desist from encroaching on the proposed Nyanya relocation site as development control bulldozers would soon be moved to the area preparatory to correcting the anomaly created there by illegal occupants Earlier, Kakatar Engineering Limited, the contractor handling the road project briefed the STDD inspection team that the project “has already attained 89 per cent completion” and pledged to complete the remaining 11 per cent within five months
The 13.25-kilometre Apo-Karshi road project was conceived as an alternative route to ease the gridlock experienced on a daily basis by workers and people driving to the capital city from the Mararaba-Nyanya axis.
The project has suffered delay due to an error in the design whereby, a huge rock outcrop on the alignment of the road corridor became very difficult to deal with.