The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, says three critical road projects across the country will benefit from the Infrastructure Development Fund initiative of the Federal Government.
Fashola made this known on Tuesday in Kano at the inauguration of reconstruction work on Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano road project.
He said the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, second Niger Bridge and Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano road projects were the first on the list of roads to benefit from the fund.
He said: “What this means now is that work will no longer stop on these three projects on account of lack of funding once they are approved in the budget.
“Contractors have been mobilised and commenced work on Lagos-Ibadan expressway and the second Niger Bridge.
“We are gathered today to handover Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano project to the contractor.”
The minister said the approval to raise Infrastructure Development Fund was granted by President Muhammadu Buhari to reconstruct deteriorating critical roads that were abandoned over a decade because of funding.
Fashola expressed dismay that the projects were abandoned because of funding at the time Nigeria made a lot of money from crude oil.
He called on the road users to be patient with the contractor, adding that plans were concluded to ensure that traffic was properly managed within the three years period.
He said: “With your cooperation, we will do our best to minimise the discomfort, but I assure you that your journey time will get better as we make progress.”
In his remark, the Emir of Kano, Mohammed Sanusi II, commended the Federal Government for the project, adding that the project was long overdue.
He said the completion of the project would reduce the level of accident, ease transportation of agricultural produce and reduce travel time for the road users.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the 375.4 kilometre road project was awarded to Julius Berger with a completion period of three years.