By Oluwatosin Maliki
On Saturday, David Umahi, the Minister of Works David Umahi says President Bola Tinubu’s administration inherited N14 trillion worth of road projects across the country.
This was disclosed to reporters at the Presidential Villa, he explained that out of the N14 trillion, N4 trillion has been paid to contractors by the current administration.
David Umahi noted that the past administration of president Buhari left over 2,604 road projects totaling 18,000 kilometre.
He stated, “The ministry inherited a total of 2,604 projects worth N14 trillion and for 18,000 kilometers of road; that is what we inherited”.
“Between when we came on board and now, about N4 trillion has been paid. And so that is a balance of N10 trillion,” he said.
Umahi said, “Now, this N10 trillion, we have defined sources that could fund up to N4 trillion. But curious to know that some of these projects have lasted for 20 years, some 10 years. In fact, in most cases, they were never appropriated throughout every tenure”.
According to the minister, he stated that President Bola Tinubu has granted permission to cancel some pointless project.
“So, I went to seek Mr. President’s so that I will be able to terminate some of the projects that have stayed up to 10 years without any defined source of funding,” he said.
President Tinubu approved a coaster road that will start in Port Harcourt, travel through cities in the north, south, and west central regions, and terminate in Lagos.
David also mentioned the 460-kilometre super highway that was built as part of the public-private partnership (PPP) from Abuja to Lagos.
In addition, he said, “We’ve concluded nine roads for concessioning, and we have selected about 17 for Mr President to approve for us to start the due process for concession”.
