FCT minister backtracks, says Apo-Karshi road completion will be delayed

Mohammed Bello, minister of the federal capital territory (FCT), says the target of completing the Apo-Karshi road is no longer feasible.

The minister had said on February 17 that the road would be completed before the beginning of the 2021 rainy season.

The road, which is about 13 kilometres, was awarded in 2011 to Kakatar Engineering Limited, a company owned by Azibaola Robert, a cousin of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Commuters around Nyanya, Karu and Karshi axis of the FCT have had to endure traffic congestion on a daily basis.

Fielding questions from reporters after the federal executive council (FEC) meeting at the presidential villa on Wednesday, Bello said the “reality on ground” and funding will delay the completion of the project.

Bello also said an error in the design of the road delayed its construction.

“It is likely that we would not be able to meet the target I earlier set up for making sure that that road gets opened before the raining season,” he said.

“But, you can rest assured that it is a road that is so important to all of us in the city, and we will keep on pushing on to see that it is done.

“The Karshi-Apo road is a project that should have been delivered by now. One of the main challenges faced in that road has to do with error in the design, whereby a huge rock outcrop on the alignment of the road corridor became very difficult to be able to arrange. But we are very happy to say that it is now almost taken care of.

“Already, a portion of that road which links Tundun Wada on the Abuja-Keffi Expressway via old and new Karshi is now very motorable because of the bridge constructed there by the Ecological Fund, which was commissioned about a month ago.”