By Hammed Shittu
Kwara State Government has resumed work on the construction of the 34-kilometre Ilesha Baruba Gwarana road in Baruten Local Government Area of the state.
Already, the government said that it has mobilised contractors back to site from the N27billion bond recently accessed for some infrastructural projects in the state.
A statement issued in Ilorin yesterday and signed by the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the Government on Project Monitoring and Evaluation stated that, the contract for surface-dressing of the Ilesha Baruba Gwanara road was first awarded in 2013 at N1,560,102,954.88.
“The contract underwent various upward reviews between 2013 and May 15, 2019 when the contract sums hit N2,782,716,900.95.
“As of May 29, 2019, only 40 per cent of work had been done while 66.4 per cent (N1,848,129,346.47) of the total contract sum had been paid with a balance of N934,587,554.48”.
“Dissatisfied with the huge expenses made so far and the level of work done, the new administration in 2020 reviewed the contract to have the key road upgraded to asphalt with an addition of just N265,412,445.52, bringing the new contract sum to N3,048,129,346.47”.
Officials of the Ministry of Works said the road construction should be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2022, barring any unforeseen delay.
The statement therefore said that, the bond and the payments for some of the projects have been captured in the supplementary 2021 budget which was recently passed by the House and assented to by the Governor.
