By Ismaila Chafe
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved over N115.4 billion for the dualization of the Kano-Kazaure-Kongwalam road linking Kano, Jigawa and Katsina states.
The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, made this known when he briefed State House correspondents at the end of the weekly Council meeting, presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, in Abuja.
According to him, the project was expected to be completed in two years, and would be financed through the country’s tax credit scheme.
He said: “The Ministry of Works and Housing presented one memo for the dualization of the Kano-Kazaure-Kongwalam highway, totalling 131.4 kms, from a single carriage way to a dual carriage way.
“So, Council approved that proposal at a cost of N115, 425, 896,907.15 kobo over 48 months.
“The instructive thing is that the financing will be done by the Tax Credit Scheme of Bua International Limited. And they will use Messrs PW Construction Nigeria limited, a company in which they have acquired some interest to undertake the construction’’, Fashola said.
Also addressing the correspondents on the outcome of the meeting, the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, revealed that the Council had approved $183.7 million for consultancy services for supervision of three railway projects in Nigeria.
According to Amaechi, the projects involved are those of Port Harcourt-Maiduguri, Kano-Maradi and Abuja-Warri.
“The Ministry of Transportation presented two memos and the first one has to do with a contract for consultancy services for supervision of the various railway projects.
“You know that we have three or four railway projects that are yet to start and they include Port Harcourt-Maiduguri, Kano-Maradi and then Abuja to Warri.
“Now, for the consultancy services, the following contractors were approved at a total cost of $183.7 million.
“The contractors are Xi Engineers Infrastructure Excellence/Yaroson and Partnership Limited, Core Consulting Engineering Plc that is for the Abuja-Warri, at the cost of $38.4 million.
“And then for the consultancy services for the supervision of Port Harcourt-Maiduguri, with batch lines to Bonny Deepsea Port and Port Harcourt Industrial Park, and then to Owerri, we have Gary consults SDBHD/Jabu Global Services Limited at $97.5 million.
“Then, the last one is consultancy services for the supervision of Kano-Katsina-Jibia-Maradi rail line, to Techniques Engineering, Architecture Marketing Nigeria Limited and that is for $47,670 million, all of them for a period of 36 months,” he explained.
He further stated that the council approved a concessioning agreement for Onitsha River Port to be managed for 30 years by Inversal Elysium Consortium.
The Minister of State, Health, Adeleke Mamora, also told the correspondents that the council approved the contract for the construction of the corporate headquarters of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
He said: “From the Ministry of Health, the council approved the award of contracts for the construction and consultancy services, for the building of the corporate headquarters of the National Health Insurance Scheme here in Abuja.
“This is because it has become inevitable to expand what is on ground, to improve the operational efficiency of that agency which is the National Health Insurance Scheme and happily, the council considered the memo and approved the same.”.
On her part, the Minister of State for Environment, Sharon Ikeazor, announced that the council approved the country’s policy on waste battery management.
She said: “Today at Council, the Ministry of Environment, through me, presented two FEC memos and one report. The first FEC memo was the Energy Transition Plan for Nigeria.
“This memo was presented as a plan for Nigeria to achieve net zero carbon emission and this will clearly set out the pathway for Nigeria in achieving this.
“The second memo was the Waste Battery Management Policy for Nigeria.
“This policy on waste management will create a lot of jobs in the economy for Nigeria and at the same time protect the health of Nigerians, to ensure that hazardous wastes, like waste batteries, are properly disposed of with regulations, including recycling in Nigeria as well,” she said.
Ikeazor said she also gave a report to the council on the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 26), that Nigeria attended and the country’s plans for COP 27 going forward. (NAN)
