The Minister of Works and Housing Babatunde Fashola says the Works Ministry is currently undertaking 711 critical highway projects in all the 6 geo-political zones of the country.
Fashola gave the hint at a meeting with the members of House of Representatives Committee on Works on the presentation of the 2021 budget and review of the 2020 budget of the Ministry and its parastatals.
The Minister said the 711 highway projects are categorized according to funding mechanism by the ministry and are mainly funded through multilateral loans.
He added that given the wide disparity between the liabilities in unpaid certificates in the total sum of 392,7 billion naira and budgetary provisions over the years, it has become imperative that the ministry prioritizes it’s 2021 capital proposals in order to make appreciable impact within the period 2022-2023.
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While he disclosed that the ministry has given first priority to 18 roads and bridges projects that have already attained some appreciable physical achievement for completion within a 12-15 months period, the Minister added that the Ministry is also focusing on roads that have attained 70% completion to achieve substantial completion level.
The Minister also hinted that the Ministry has selected two roads and a bridge per zone for enhanced funding in the 2021 budget to achieve appreciable progress on the projects.
He further said that the amount owed to contractors who have completed their projects is over 3.397 billion naira while the sum of over 3.538 billion would be required to complete the remaining ones
