By Thompson ABISOLA
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved N12.15 billion, the revised cost of the contract for the construction of Zobe Regional Water Supply Scheme, in Katsina State.
The Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents after the FEC meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said that the approval was in continuation of Federal Government’s effort to complete the significant infrastructure project that it inherited.
Adamu said that the water project was first contracted out by the Federal Government in 1992 but was never completed.
“The original contractor decided to quit; and in 2009, a new contractor was brought and he continued with work; brought in and imported all the key components of the work like pipes and so on and they were never paid.
“So, we now want to complete the project which we inherited at about 75 per cent completion.
“The FEC approved the augmentation on N12.15 billion to bring the project of a total of cost of N22.1 billion with an additional completion period of 18 months.
“One of the interesting thing about this project is that you would have noticed I said Phases 1A and Phase 2; there is a Phase 1B.
“My ministry has sought in the last three years to open collaboration with state government so that some of these projects; themselves being the direct beneficiaries, to work together to fund the project jointly,’’ he said.
He said that his ministry had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Katsina State Government on the project; adding that it also signed similar agreement with Ogun State recently.
According to him, Katsina State Government will commit between N7 billion to N10 billion for the Phase 1B of the project, while the ministry will work on Phase 1A and Phase 2.
He said he looked forward to securing sufficient budgetary funds and some additional intervention from the Natural Resources Development Fund to be able to complete the Phase 1A and Phase 2 of the project by January, 2019.
“We hope that the Katsina State Government will also accelerate the process, but some of the works it has do is dependent on the work we have to do under the Phase 1A.
“So, we need to accelerate and finish our part so that they can take over Phase 2,” he said.
