The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has confirmed the release of N50 billion or 50 percent of the N100 billion supplementary budget approved by the National Assembly to the authorities of the Federal Capital Territory Administration.
Speaking after an inspection tour of some ongoing projects in the FCT on Thursday, the Minister said the funds which were released by the Federal Ministry of Finance recently would be deployed to finance ongoing capital projects in the nation’s capital.
The Minister therefore authorized the Permanent Secretary of the FCTA to commence payments of contractors handling projects in FCT.
Giving assurance of early payment for contracts executed under the current administration, he said, “I am happy to announce to you that the Federal Ministry of Finance has released 50 percent of the supplementary budget approved by the National Assembly to us.
“That in a way, has given us the hope that contractors will be paid anytime from now.
“We have also gotten assent to the FCT Statutory Budget, which again, has given us hope that no project will be left uncompleted as promised.
“As you can see, these are quality projects, which we are very satisfied with.
“We believe that the arrangements made by the contractors will enable us to commission the projects to celebrate Mr President’s one year in office,” he said.
He commended Abuja residents for their support, while assuring them that there was no promise made that would not be fulfilled, stressing that a promise made would be fulfilled.
The minister expressed confidence that the projects would be delivered on schedule, saying “we are quite hopeful; we are quite convinced that they would keep to the time scheduled as agreed.
“We are happy with what we have seen, and we will continue to do things to the satisfaction of the residents of Abuja and assure them that the renewed hope agenda is not a mere talk. So, it is a promise and a promise kept.”
Wike acknowledged some challenges at the course of delivering the projects, adding, however, that the challenges were surmountable.
He added that with the kind of support from President Bola Tinubu, there were no challenges that would not be surmounted.
One of the projects inspected was the Outer Southern Expressway, which stretched from A.A Rano, through Deeper Life Junction, SARS, Apo roundabout to Wasa District.
The road is being constructed by China Geo-Engineering Corporation (CGC) Nigeria Limited.
Wike also inspected the Northern N-20 Expressway in Jahi District being constructed by Gilmor Construction firm and the Vice President’s residence being constructed by Julius Berger.
The Area Manager, CGC Nigeria Ltd., Yong Hong, assured the minister that the Outer Southern Expressway would be delivered before May.
Similarly, the representative of Julius Berger, Oliver Berger, said that the team members were on site for the past two months and had done a lot of work on the Vice President’s residence project.
“We have done a lot of cleaning inside and outside.
“As you can see a lot of infrastructural work has happened; earth work around the fence line has been done, sewage and other trenches have been done.
“All the procurement processes have commenced already and from the preparation point of view we are in a good position to turn all our plans and procurement activities into action,” he said.
