Bali-Serti road contract needless duplication from FG – Gov. Ishaku

Sylvanus Viashima, Jalingo

The Taraba state governor Darius Ishaku on Tuesday appealed to the Federal government not to repeat the contract award for the reconstruction of Bali-Serti road which is already under construction with funding from the state government.

Mr Bala Bala Dan-Abu, Special Adviser to the Governor of Taraba state on Media and Publicity who l made the call while briefing newsmen in Jalingo said that the state had already awarded the said contract to P.W Nigeria Ltd, and over eighty of the work has been completed.

He said that the challenge faced by the state was funds to be able to construct the few Bridges on the road.

He therefore, called on the federal government to construct the Serti-Gembu 115 km road that would give access to the Mambilla Hydro Electrical Power Project and called on the Federal government to refund the money expended by the state on the portion of the road project.

“Taraba state government has received with surprise news of the approval at a recent meeting of the Federal Executive Council, an award of contract for the rehabilitation of Bali-Serti Federal road in Taraba. Ordinarily, this development should be a thing of joy for the government and people of the state except that it has given a wrong impression about the present state of the road and the work already done on it by the state.

“We wish to suggest that Taraba government be paid it’s outstanding balance on the portion of the project it has done and allowed to complete the remaining job on the bridges. We also appeal to the federal government to embark on the second phase of the road from Serti to Gembu, which gives access to the Mambilla Hydro Electrical Power Project site.

“Let me remind you that the federal government has already paid part of the money expenses by the state government on that road and if the complete payment have been made, the state government would have completed the project already”.

Our correspondent recall that the FEC had earlier awarded the Bali-Serti-Gembu 300 klm road project from the NNPC funds.