The Manager, PRNigeria Centre, Kano, on Wednesday, raised the alarm over an abandoned human-oriented project by the Kano State Government for the past three years despite the release of N381, 904,640.43 for the project.
Adnan Muktar, while briefing newsmen at the Centre’s branch office in Kano, named the project as the Ado Bayero Road Network, at Dorayi Babba in Gwale Local Government Area, of Kano.
According to him, its one among the numerous projects approved by Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje in 2018, which the despite approval and release of multi-million naira, the project is still abandoned for over three years.
“The Ado Bayero Road Network is a 1 kilometer road project of which a total contract sum of N381, 904, 640.43 was approved for the project and awarded to Stone Gate Quarries Limited in 2018, scheduled to be completed within a three months period
Also, according to our findings, a total sum of N110 million has been approved for the project across the 2019, 2020 and 2021 state financial budgets.
To confirm the authenticity of the company, the project was awarded to, the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) was visited where it was established that the company is non-existent and unregistered.
Furthermore, the official status report generated on 31st of March, 2022 from the CAC revealed the existence of another construction company, similar to the one in question, but with different names and addresses.
When contacted, the company, said it changed its name from Stonegate Quaries Ltd to Stonegate Engineering and Quarries Ltd, which was why the earlier search for the original name proved abortive.
What is however worrisome is that the old name and old address are still the available information on the contract papers, including the signboard mounted at the project site, which is visible to date.
However, in an effort to establish why the project was abandoned for over three years, the Contractor disclosed that they were yet to be financially mobilized by state government despite officially requesting for advance payment, which informed their decision to demobilize from the site.
Also, the residents of Ado Bayero Road, at Dorayi Babbaa in Gwale LGA have in recent years raised more than N14 million through contributions from members of the community, which was spent on the road to make it motorable.
When contacted for his reaction, Kano State Commissioner for Works, Engr. Idris Wada Saleh declined to respond to any of the questions put across to him on why the contract was abandoned for three years.
Meanwhile, the stakeholders are expecting the Kano state government to provide reasons why the project was abandoned since the contractor is claiming that he was not mobilized, hence he abandoned the site without commencing work.
The question waiting for answer is, where is the N38 million allegedly released for the project in 2019?
Also, what about the payments voucher of N49 million that was raised to be paid to the contractor as 15 percent take-off grant?
When will work commence on the one-kilometre road project, which was initially expected to be completed within three months but has eventually been abandoned for over three years now?
To this end, the Centre is calling on anti-graft agencies, alongside, civil society organizations to intervene matter, towards investigating the circumstance that led to the abandoning of the project for three years and bring those found negligent to book.
The Government should also provide explanation on why the project is yet to take-off, despite the approval and release of N382 million.