ARMSTRONG ALLAHMAGANI, Bauchi
Bauchi State Executive Council has approved for construction two township roads in the state metropolis totaling 4.2 kilometers at the cost of N828,845,855.
The State Commissioner of Works, Abdulkadir Ibrahim, disclosed this while briefing journalists on the outcome of the State Executive Council Meeting held on Wednesday at the Banquet Hall of the Government House.
He said the roads are the Central Market Roundabout-Kofar Dumi-Gwongwon, and Malam-Goje-Mudal Lawal Market-Bakin Kura.
According to him, the construction of the two roads are aimed at easing traffic flow within the metropolis.
He said when the contractors were asked to give the bill of quantity, about N2 billion was given adding that the government sat down, and scrutinized and ensured that every bit of that bill submitted was taken care us.
Ibrahim said: “In the cause of submitting the bills, some of the contractors said that they were going to clear a bush right inside the metropolitan city, amounting to almost N400 million. So we had to put our own and cancel that one.
“They said there was a rock that is to be blasted and we asked them where the rock was situated and they told us that maybe, in the process of constructing the road, they may encounter a rock to blast.
“All we are saying is that if we had not been meticulous and we’re just interested in getting the work done, we would have incurred expenditures that are absolutely not necessary.
“We made sure that we cancelled all those ones and when we came back to the drawing board with them, we took every bit of the design, the bill of quantities and we can down from over N2 billion to N828 million.”
The Commissioner who said that 30% of the total sum of the project will be given to the contractor as advanced payment, added that all compensations have been paid to those affected.
“The project will begin ending of August and we gave the contractor 12 months within which to deliver the work but Triacta promised that within seven months, they will finish the whole work. And we will take other roads and continue to build them.
“Nobody is being owed anything because all compensations have been paid to all affected as a result of the construction of the two roads.
“We have a total of 362 beneficiaries who were paid N272, 327,027 as compensation,” he said.