Uncompleted road projects worry Gwagwalada residents

Residents of Gwagwalada are worried over uncompleted township road projects within the metropolis. A cross section of the residents who spoke with Aso Chronicle at the weekend complained that work on major roads, such as ECWA-Demonstration Pilot Science Primary School road; Kasuwan Dare-Unity Bank Junction road; Atlas Junction- Secretariat–Sharia-Court as well as St. Mary’s Catholic […]

Residents of Gwagwalada are worried over uncompleted township road projects within the metropolis.
A cross section of the residents who spoke with Aso Chronicle at the weekend complained that work on major roads, such as ECWA-Demonstration Pilot Science Primary School road; Kasuwan Dare-Unity Bank Junction road; Atlas Junction- Secretariat–Sharia-Court as well as St. Mary’s Catholic Church-Market-FRCN have remained uncompleted for over a year.
A resident, Alfred Ebuka, said the present state of the three major roads in the metropolis of the council caused untold hardship to motorists and commercial motorcycle riders and their passengers daily.
He said the roads linked to the heart of Gwagwalada and also the exit routes from the town but have been neglected by the council authorities for almost a year.
“These three roads are in the heart of Gwagwalada town, and the council chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mustapha, started work on them last year but the work later stopped,” he said.
Another resident, who works at the Federal Secretariat in Abuja, Musa Abdullahi, said the state of Gwagwalada township roads had become a matter of concern to residents noting that there were always gridlock on the roads during the rainy season.
He said the delay in completing the major roads in the metropolis caused the residents a lot of suffering. He explained that there was always traffic gridlock when going to or returning from work.
He said it was unfortunate that although Gwagwalada town hosted many federal government’s agencies, its roads are in a deplorable state.
He also said the population of the town was definitely increasing thereby underlining the need for government to expand infrastructure to cater for the teeming population.
“The major township roads are in dilapidated state, making life difficult for the people but government has not given attention to them,” he lamented.
According to him, the only major roads in the town that government had given attention to were at Phase 1, 2 and 3, and quarters area , which he said, were rehabilitated by the Satellite Towns Development Department (STDD).
“Today in Gwagwalada, we have many government agencies such as Customs College, University of Abuja, Immigration Passport Office and University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, but some of the roads are bad, even the ones the area council has set out to construct have been abandoned along the way,” he said.
A motorist, Michael Ayuba, said there was need for the council authorities to intensify effort to complete the three major road projects. He recalled how he was trapped in a traffic jam at Atlas Junction while conveying a sick relation from Gwako to University of Abuja Teaching Hospital.
“In fact, I had to manoeuvre and luckily make a U-turn. The traffic was heavy because it was a working day and the short-cut at Pilot Science Primary School is also in a bad state,” he said.
Our reporter, who visited the uncompleted road projects on Saturday, gathered that the ECWA-Demonstration Pilot Science Primary School road, a one kilometre, was awarded in 2012, during the administration of Alhaji Zakari Angulu Dobi, to an indigenous contractor at the cost of N149 million.
The present council chairman inherited the project when he assumed office in 2016, but it has still remained uncompleted.
It was further gathered that the Atlas Junction-Secretariat-Sharia Court, is 1.8km long and was awarded by the present council administration early last year at the cost of N136 million.
But the project has remained uncompleted.
A resident of Old Kutunku in the area, Alhaji Yabo Danlami, also lamented the deplorable state of the St. Mary-Market- FRCN road.
He said though the council had mobilized some labourers to fill some of the potholes along Market road and Unity Bank Junction road with laterite, it was only a temporary measure that did not last long.
“It was even when complaints from residents were getting too much that the area council filled some of the potholes with laterite,” he said.
However, a source in the area council, who preferred anonymity, confided in our reporter, yesterday, that the delay in completing some of the roads was because the council had not released funds to the contractors.
“Actually, its not that the area council is not getting funds but with his court case and political activities now that election is around the corner, I believe he does not have the concentration to finish the roads,” he noted.
When contacted, the chairman of the council, Alhaji Adamu Mustapha, asked our reporter to see him on Monday. When our reporter visited his office on Monday, he said he could not talk then as he was having a meeting in the city regarding his party’s primaries coming up on Wednesday.