ICRC Briefs Buhari On Why Construction Of Second Niger Bridge Has Been Put On Hold

The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), has
briefed President Muhammadu Buhari, on some of the reasons why the
construction of the Second Niger Bridge has been slowed down.

The Director-General of the Commission, Aminu Dikko, who spoke to
State House correspondents after briefing the President, said the ICRC
was currently withholding its Certificate of Compliance for the
project because of many issues regarding the project that the
Commission was not comfortable with.

Mr Dikko said the Commission was engaging the Ministry of Works on how
to resolve the issues and therefore had asked the ministry to review
the cost of the project.

He also identified the clamour for compensation by owners of the land,
where the project is being sighted as one of the pending issues.

The Director-General said he has no idea of the present state of the
project, where the groundbreaking was done with fanfare by the
administration of former president, Dr Goodluck Jonathan.

He, however, said it was normal for projects under the Public Private
Partnership to take time, calling on Nigerians to be patient with the
Commission.

He urged Nigerians who had been insisting on the completion of the
project to be patient, adding that PPP projects could not be completed
speedily like normal contracts where money is made available to
contractors after they are awarded.

"For the Second Niger bridge there will be a lot of studies that needs
to be done on the integrity of the bridge itself which will take time.
It is not something we can see being completed in the next six months.

"I will like us to be patient about it, we know that it is a critical
road, we also know how Nigerians suffer during festive holidays and we
hear people sleep on that old bridge.The time has come for us to bring
succour to Nigerians", he maintained.

Dikko said the President issued two directives on the 33 silos built
across the country and the need for MDAs to include project
development in their budgets.

"What the President has directed is that we should involve the state
governors to see how best they can encourage their farmers to utilise
these silos when they come into effect.

"The President directed that MDAs should ensure that they have
adequate funding for development of project in their budgets, and if
they don't they should look for alternative ways of getting such
funding", he said.
-ChannelsTV