Despite praising the level of construction that has been delivered so far, the federal government has revoked 68 km of the 105-kilometer Gusau-Talata Mafara road project, which was awarded to a private company due to the slow pace of work.
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While inspecting the ongoing dualization of the Sokoto-Gusau-Funtua-Zaria highway, the Works Minister, Bello Goronyo, made the announcement on Sunday.
Triacta Nigeria Limited, the federal government’s contractor, was given the contract in May 2023 to construct a dual carriageway between Gusau and Talata Mafara for the construction of the Gusau-Sokoto highway project, which extends from Gusau to Talata Mafara.
Although the company started working from Talata Mafara Local Government Area and made some progress, the area’s worsening insecurity forced the contractor to relocate to the Gusau-Bungudu axis, where construction is currently being done.
The Minister of State for Works, Bello Goronyo, who reviewed the project on President Bola Tinubu’s recommendation, applauded the caliber of the work done by Triacta but expressed dissatisfaction with the slow construction pace, which resulted in the revocation of 68 kilometers of the contract.
“We are at Triacta, the second contractor, starting at kilometer 105, and, as I said, we are now at kilometer six.” Although you can see them on the job site, we have noticed that their work is not very impressive because they only have a 16% completion rate.
We are hopeful that Talata-Mafara should have made significant progress on this path because the contract was almost concurrent with Sokoto’s contract, which was in May 2023, was awarded. “This is a very significant corridor,” Goronio said.
So we narrowed them down to kilometer 37 from kilometer 0 in Gusau so that they could concentrate on the dual carriageway, the two sections left and right, before November this year, so that Phase One and Phase Two, which are located at kilometer 37 from kilometer 105, can be found and completed by a reputable contractor who will arrive and deliver that project on time, he added.
According to him, the Federal Government is determined to complete the project’s affected section by November this year to improve visibility, improve road safety, increase security, and boost economic activity along the corridor.
A Triacta Nigeria Limited representative responded, citing persistent insecurity as one of the main issues affecting the project.
You’re aware that our work has already begun in Mafara, which is located just 60 kilometers away. We almost completed 11 kilometers in Mafara, which was a very timely record, before, regrettably, we were evacuated because of security concerns that are well known to everyone.
“Therefore, building a camp there is not simple. When you have seen how quickly we started working on the bridges there with all the heavy equipment we have put there, including the asphalt plant, and other plants, we have to move to a new location where we have nothing, Furry said.
“So we had to construct a new location again; in the interim, it was obviously not finished on time. We can’t claim that we fully resumed our first session.
We are now at full strength once more, but we are uncomfortable. Yes, security is a major issue here, he added.
The minister then proceeded to Setraco’s other projects, which included Gusau and Sheme-Funtua, where he applauded the speed and standard of work.
