The Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory, Dr. Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu, has pleaded for adequate funding for projects in satellite towns, particularly the Federal Capital Territory's 5,000 Wassa Affordable Housing project.
The minister made it clear that the Administration wants to provide truly affordable homes to the group it is targeting.
While touring projects in remote villages with the Senate Committee monitoring team and administration management staff, Aliyu made this known.
During the inspection of the Wassa affordable housing complex, Aliyu pushed for stronger support from the National Assembly to ensure that the homes were genuinely affordable.
She disclosed that, though there is a security challenge on the site, she commended the firm for building a police post to tackle security challenges in the area.
The minister further pointed that, “The Apo-Karshi road, when completed, will ease access to the township, ease commuting by indigenes and residents from Karshi and other satellite towns.
“So constructing that road and completing it will give us value for money, even for the affordable housing and other developments. We have identified where the problems are, which is particularly about funding which is due to the economic downturn and the inflation rate, so we are reviewing our project rates vis-a-vis the current cost in the market to expedite action on the projects.
“We will look at the document again from the period the contract was of awarded to date. When our administration came in 2015, we have been able to pay all that is required of us, yet the company is unable to complete the job.
“It is not easy to say we will terminate a contract in overriding public interest because sometimes litigation can deprive residents and take a longer period to conclude”.
However, the senate committee has expressed dissatisfaction over the delay by the contractor handling Karshi – Ara and the extension of the Karshi – Apo – road, over.
Chairman of the committee, Senator Smart Adeyemi, who led other members of the committee on an oversight visit, said it was a shame for an indigenous construction company to betray the trust of the FCT Administration and the National Assembly, by awarding the contract to the firm.
He said the company had acknowledged the full funding of the project by the current FCT Administration, and there was no reason for the firm to give excuses instead of delivering as scheduled.
Adeyemi regretted that a contract that was awarded in 2011 has not been completed for several years, which he described as a failure.
He, therefore, directed the contractor to appear before the senate for an explanation next week Thursday.
It could be recalled that the Apo -Karshi road project was awarded to M/S Kakatar’ CE. Nig. Limited in 2011, with a completion period of 20 months.