Don't Miss


Home   >   Business   >   Industries   >   Construction   >   FG spends N1.47tn on 183 road projects

FG spends N1.47tn on 183 road projects

By on November 15, 2014

The Federal Government on Thursday said that 183 highway projects were currently being constructed across the six geopolitical zones of the country at a cost of N1.47tn.

It said some of the projects were being funded by the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme.

The outgoing Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Works, Dr. Abubakar Mohammed, disclosed this while handing over to his successor, Mr. Dauda Kigbu.

Mohammed said, “We are handling 183 ongoing highway projects and they amount to N1.47tn. These projects are evenly spread in all the six geopolitical zones of this country. I want to let you know that there are 61 completed road projects and some of them are now waiting for inauguration.

“Some highway projects are getting funding from the SURE-P scheme. For example, all the sections of the Abuja-Lokoja road are getting funding from SURE-P. When I mention roads, these also include bridges. Therefore, I want to mention here that some critical bridges are also enjoying funding from the SURE-P scheme.”

He said only about 46.23 per cent of the total budget for the ministry for 2014 had been released from the Federation Account for capital project execution.

According to him, the total release for overhead cost is 58.7 per cent, adding that in the 2014 budget, the ministry had a capital allocation of about N98.8bn, while its total overhead allocation was N436m.

Mohammed added, “We are into the fourth quarter now; the capital releases so far for the first, second and third quarters are a total of N45.6bn. That translates to about 46.23 per cent of the total amount for the year.

“This is fourth quarter; so, we are talking about 46.23 per cent of the releases. So, you can see from there the performance of the ministry. It may also please you to note that the ministry received a monthly allocation overhead cost of N26m only.”

 

[Punch]