Taraba, Yobe Roads Up For Construction As Federal Executive Council Approves N50b

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved N50 billion for rehabilitation of roads in Taraba and Yobe States as well as the construction of injection substations to boost power supply in Gwarinpa area of the Federal Capital Territory.

N48.4 billion of the amount was approved for roads in Taraba and Yobe while the remaining N1.6 billion was meant for the FCT electrification project.

The Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, revealed this to State House Correspondents at the end of the council’s meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja on Wednesday.

Giving the breakdown of the N48.4 billion, the minister said N29.8 billion was approved as revised cost for the rehabilitation of Yola-Hong-Mubi road and N18 billion was approved for the Yobe State Government as refunds for the construction of federal government roads in the state.

He said: “The Minister of the FCT brought his memo seeking for approval for the upward review of the contract for the construction of two 15 MVA injection substations at Life Camp Gwarinpa, in Abuja.

“In 2015, council approved the contract to supply 15/33 MVA injection substations to improve power supply in Gwarinpa, but regrettably for more than two years the contractors could not access the site due to ownership tussle of the land.

“By the time they later had access, prices went up, dollar appreciated and they came back in 2018 and are coming again today saying that given the population of Gwarinpa now, they need not two but actually three injection substations there and that contract was approved today for the sum of N1,640,406,426.26.”