The Kwara State government has not abandoned the construction of the Kishi-Kaiama road, the State Commissioner for Works and Transport, Alhaji Aro Yahaya has disclosed.
Yahaya made this known in Ilorin while speaking at the Media Parliament organised by the State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He explained that though the road is a federal government facility, the State government intervened on the road due to its importance and to reduce the hardship faced by road users who ply the route.
The Commissioner recalled that the State government awarded the construction of the 64km road project in 2014 and mobilised the contractor with N500million.
He, however, noted that the Federal government recently took over the funding the project and approved the sum of N7.2b as reimbursement to the State government for its construction.
According to him, the Federal Ministry of Works, Power and Housing had earlier released the sum of N238m to the State government and another N50m is being expected from the Ministry.
The Commissioner said he met with the contractor handling the project, who complained that the fund from the Federal Ministry of Works is not enough to cover a substantial part of the project and he does not want a situation where he resumes work on the site and leave after a month due to shortage of fund.
Yahaya added that the State government is currently in talks with officials of the Ministry, who had pledged to release additional payment to the state within the next few weeks.
He assured that the contractor would move back to the project site as soon as the fund is released by the Ministry. The Commissioner, therefore, emphasized that the project had not been abandoned and that the State government is committed towards its completion.