From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
The Federal Housing Authority (FHA) has commissioned a three-way road project in Apo Guzape Estate, at the cost of N1.2 billion, while threatening to go after contractors who abandoned their projects due, perhaps, to contract variation.
Speaking after the commissioning, the Managing Director (MD) of FHA, Hon Oyetunde Ojo, directed the contractors to go back to site or face the consequences.
“Whoever knows those contractors should tell them to go back to work, otherwise I will go after them,” he warned.
On the commissioned roads, he disclosed that one of the roads is on First Avenue and the other twin road is on 13th Avenue.
“It’s about three roads. We are on 1st Avenue. Two roads are linked together, and the width is 12 metres wide. It’s about a little less than 600 metres. That’s for the 1st Avenue. It’s this wide because it’s a collector, and when I was talking, I said this area was very, very bad. It was a very mountainous area. We ensured that we put in so much professionalism into this, and for us, standard is key. So we ensured that we deployed our best. This road is going to serve as a collector. It’s like the main road that will take you to the next estate. Before we started this project, people staying up there never had access to their homes, but this (road) has provided access. And if you look at the road, we have a walkway; we have sufficient drainage to take water. We also have a bus cover that is sufficiently wide enough to take hydraulic inflow. So, by and large, this will serve the residents so well. Then, the 13th Crescent is a close that has been abandoned for quite some time, but we are glad that we’ve been able to do all and commission all.
“Our mandate is to build houses for Nigerians at affordable housing units.
“You remember that we can’t stop building. That means we can’t stop commissioning. So, it is a continuous project that we have to do. And what we’re doing with the mandate of the president is to make sure that it’s not just in Abuja. That was why we started from Ibadan. And very shortly, we’ll be seeing the groundbreaking. I’ll be honest with you, on this contract sum, it’s a two-way project. There’s going to be a review, because of inflation. But I think right now, it should be more than N400, N500 million plus on the two projects. Remember that these were things that were awarded before we came. But due to the fact that when we came in, inflation also came in,” he said.
Ojo used the occasion to inform Nigerians that FHA would be commissioning the tallest and biggest shopping mall in Gwarinpa, Nigeria, in the next few days.
According to him, the mall, which is on Third Avenue in Gwarinpa Estate, is hosting 59 shops. It’s a four-storey building with a penthouse and can seat 250 persons.
“The Gwarinpa project is the tallest, not in terms of width; the tallest, biggest mall in Nigeria, and I stand to be corrected. It’s on 3rd Avenue. It’s hosting 59 shopping malls with a penthouse that can host 250 seats.
“This was a project that started in 2018 and was abandoned, and by His Grace, in another three, four weeks, it will be commissioned,” he assured.