Worried by the slow pace of work on the 82kilometer Minna-Bida highway occasioned by the activities of heavy-duty vehicles, the Niger state government has said that it will no longer allow trailers, trucks and other articulated vehicles to ply the road to enable the speed up the work.
The decision of the government to stop these categories of vehicles is sequel to complains from the contractor handling the reconstruction of the road over the attitude of these vehicles drivers and the volume of traffic which has posed a serious challenge to the ongoing work on the road.
The government made its intention known after an assessment tour of the ongoing work on the road by the state infrastructure and project monitoring committee, headed by the Chief Of Staff to the government house, Alhaji Ibrahim Balarabe.
The contract for the reconstruction of the 82kilometers Minna-Bida road which has claimed many lives was awarded to Dantata and Sowoe in February this year at the cost of N23.4billion with a completion period of 18 dried months.
Six months after, only about five percent of work have been achieved, and the company attributed the slow pace of the work to the heavy volume of vehicles traffic, especially trailers, trucks and other articulated vehicles.
The project manager of the company, Ibrahim Fahir had told the infrastructure committee that apart from the heavy rain, the activities of the trailers and truck drivers is largely responsible for the slow pace of work on the road.
He told the infrastructure committee that unless something urgent is done to check the activities of these vehicles, it will be difficult to deliver the work as scheduled.
The Chairman of the committee, Ibrahim Balarabe who expressed displeasure over the development said the government has no choice than to close the road to trailers, trucks and other articulated vehicles in other to allow the contractor speed up the work.
He disclosed that the government is under intense pressure from the public over the deplorable condition of the road “and will therefore do everything possible to ensure the timely completion of the road”.
Minna-Bida Road Construction; Niger To Ban Trailers, Articulated Vehicle
John Adams, Minna
The government has therefore set up a technical committee which include all relevant stakeholders to come up with the modalities for the closure of the road to heavy duty vehicles.
He therefore appealed to the federal government to repair the some of the federal roads in the state which includes Mokwa-Tegina-Brinin Gwari highway, and the Bida-Lapai-Agaie-Lambata highway to reduce the pressure on the Minna-Bida road.