“We Will Not Award Any New Road Contract”, Says Fashola

The Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Babatunde Fashola,
has stated that the Federal Government will not award new contracts for the construction of new roads until previously awarded ones are completed.

He said past administrations awarded contracts for 206 roads
at about N2 trillion but were mostly not funded.

Fashola stated this while speaking to newsmen State House
Correspondents on Wednesday, October 05, 2016 at the end of the Federal Executive
Council.

“What we have done was first to say that we would not
award any new road contract,” he said.

“We would deal with the over 206 roads that have been
awarded but not funded for over three years.”

The Minister also spoke on the sorry state of some roads
within the Federal Capital and why his ministry seems more interested in the
Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

“Now the budget that we have for the three ministries
that I superintend is in the region of N400 plus billion and over 200 billion
is dedicated to roads across the country.

“So that is the deficit that we have to deal with and
in making those choices we then have to deal not with roads that necessarily
border us but roads that carry the heaviest traffic,” Fashola said.

He added that the government is focusing on the roads that
have economic significance for the country such as routes for the evacuation of
fuel and food produce going to the different parts of the country.