Kuje-Gwagwalada road project stops one year after minister’s visit

A motorist, Benjamin Musa, plies Kuje-Gwagwalada road and is concerned that a bridge on the road will soon collapse. He is pained that work on the road was yet to be completed though it started several years ago. He said there is a bridge between Kiyi and Chukuku villages on  the road which is about […]

A motorist, Benjamin Musa, plies Kuje-Gwagwalada road and is concerned that a bridge on the road will soon collapse. He is pained that work on the road was yet to be completed though it started several years ago.

He said there is a bridge between Kiyi and Chukuku villages on  the road which is about to collapse due to a recent flood in the area.

The 16km Kuje-Gwagwalada road seems to have again suffered another set back as work on the remaining one kilometre portion of the road has stopped.

The rehabilitation work on the road was ongoing when the FCT Minister, Muhammad Musa Bello, led then coordinator of Satellite Towns Development Department (STDD), Mrs. Imande Victoria and the director of engineering on an unscheduled inspection of the road on Friday, August 11, 2017.

He had expressed disappointment over what he described as poor handling of the work by the contractor and its slow pace.

When Aso Chronicle visited the site on Saturday, the remaining section of the road, approximately one kilometre between Chukuku and Kiyi villages, was yet to be completed.

It was also observed that even the completed section of the road, from Pasali in Kuje to Chibiri, was already filled with potholes.

When this reporter visited Teleview Engineering Ltd’s construction site at Kiyi, nobody was at hand to speak on the state of the road and there were no construction equipment on ground.

Some residents who spoke with our reporter decried the deplorable state of the road.

Another motorist, Abdullahi Usman, said it was unfortunate that the 16km road had continued to suffer neglect by successive governments for 16 years.

He said though it was the only access road, which also serves as alternative route linking the south of the territory, in the event of gridlock on the highway, government seems not to give serious attention to it.

“This Kuje-Gwagwalada road has been causing untold hardship to motorists for over 16 years now but government is still battling to complete it,” he said.

He said the abandonment of the remaining section of the road has worsened the plight of motorists and commuters. “The contractor should have left the road the way it was because that uncompleted  section which has been abandoned since over a year ago has caused serious damage to our vehicles,” he lamented.

Usman said he is forced to visit the mechanic too often due to the bad condition of the road which spoils their vehicles and called on the FCT Administration to intensify effort to mobilize the contractor back to site to complete the rehabilitation work.

Also speaking, the chairman of Kuje-Gwagwalada road branch of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Mohammed Usman, said they are worried that the road has continued to suffer neglect by government over the years.

He said the deplorable state of the road had caused damage to both private and commercial vehicles plying the road.

“In fact, there is no three days that pass without our drivers visiting the mechanic to change their vehicles shock absorbers due the bad state of the road,” he said.

He said the road became impassable whenever there is heavy rainfall, noting that the bridge between Chukuku and Kiyi villages which always gets overflooded thereby making it impossible for vehicles to pass through until the water level recedes.

“I pity pregnant women who travel on this road because that remaining one kilometre stretch between Chukuku and Kiyi is even the worst. And that is why whenever a pregnant woman is boarding a vehicle from our motor park here to Kuje, we always caution the drivers to go slowly,” he said.

The NURTW chairman said the union was happy with the FCT minister’s inspection of the road in August last year, but that it was unfortunate that the government was still battling with a 16km road many years after work started on it.

“Instead of nine minutes’ drive from Kuje to Gwagwalada if the road is good, we take between 40 minutes to one hour because the condition of the road has worsened by the day,” he added.

He appealed to the FCT minister to ensure quick completion of the road rehabilitation work so as to ease the hardships of motorists and commuters who ply the road.

Reacting, the Chairman of Kuje Area Council, Abdullahi Galadima, said he had at several meetings with stakeholders assured residents of efforts being made to ensure that the rehabilitation of the remaining section of the road was completed.

He said the council would find out from the FCT Administration what was delaying the completion of the road for almost a year now.

“I am also worried, just like other motorists, about the abandonment of the remaining section of the road, but I will try to meet with the FCT minister to draw his attention to it and the satellite towns coordinator about the remaining section of the road between Chukuku and Kiyi villages,” he said.

When contacted, the coordinator of Satellite Towns Development Department (STDD), Ishaku Tanko Yamawo, said the minister had already directed the department to invite the contractor to ensure that he went back to site and complete the one kilometre left.

He said the minster’s directive followed a similar complaint by the Gomo of Kuje,  Alhaji Haruna Jibrin Tanko, to the minister two weeks ago.

“In fact, we have finished paying the contractor but to our dismay, he abandoned the remaining section  of the road. But the minister has directed that we should look for the contractor so that he can go back to site to complete the work, “ he said.