THESHIELD Garkuwa
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By Salisu Na’inna Dambatta
The ceremonial flag-off of the dualisation of the section of the A2 national trunk highway from Miltara to go through Dambatta, Kazaure, Daura and end at Kwangwalam, has delighted millions of Nigerians and friends of the country who ply that route regularly.
The ceremony was jointly conducted in Kazaure by the Minister of Works and Housing, Alhaji Babatunde Raji Fashola for the Federal Government, and Alhaji Kabir Isyaku Rabiu, Executive Director for the contractors, BUA Group.
Dualising the 132-kilometre road, which goes through my hometown of Dambatta, is an important legacy of the Muhammadu Buhari presdency. It will doubtlessly meet the expectations and aspirations of Nigerians for smooth roads. It will facilitate accessibility to countless communities and enhance inter-community connectivity.
In a paper titled How Roads Support Development, World Bank researcher Claudia Berg and two others noted, “Roads are the arteries through which the economy pulses. By linking producers to markets, workers to jobs, students to schools, and the sick to hospitals, roads are vital to any development agenda.”
BUA Group won the project for N116 billion. It is an indigenous conglomerate involved in cement manufacturing, mining, agriculture and food processing, transportation, construction and energy. It is led by Alhaji Abdul Samad Isyaku Rabiu, an astute industrialist and philanthropist.
The project will be soley financed by BUA Group under the Presidential Executive Order 007 for Road Infrastructure Development and Refurbishment Investment Tax Credit Scheme. The Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Muhammad Nami, described the Scheme as a noble initiative that should be applauded by all Nigerians.
In the same vein, the Minister of Works and Housing said the Tax Credit Scheme is a financing model whereby the government partners with private companies to pay Company Income Tax (CIT) in advance to enable the government implement vital projects that would benefit the citizenry.
The road is in a plain area with very few bends, marshy or hilly terrain. It has only one main bridge along its 132-kilometre course that traverses Kano, Jigawa and Katsina states. During the flag-off ceremony, Bababtunde Fashola, the Minister of Works and Housing, urged governors of the three states, traditional rulers and members of communities to give the contractor access to relevant sites for a speedy completion of the project.
The highway links sources of seemingly inexhaustible livestock and grains to markets in the country within and beyond the three states. It facilitates domestic trade nationwide, thus contributing to the country’s economic development.
The Kano-Dambatta-Daura-Kwangwalam road is part of the Nigerian portion of the Trans-African Highway which on completion will link the ports in Nigeria’s Atlantic coast and those on the Mediterranean Sea in Algeria. Algeria has reportedly completed its portion of the Highway, while Nigeria and the Republic of Niger have made significant progress in building their portions.
BUA Group said it has mobilized equipment to the site. Its Group Executive Director, Alhaji Kabiru Rabiu, assured Nigerians that the company has the requisite capacity and resources to timely complete the project. He expressed gratitude to the Buhari-led administration for awarding the project to his organisation.
It is worth noting that several other companies are participating in the Road Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme (RITCS) in other parts of the country. The Scheme is a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) through which the Federal Government leverages private sector financing for the construction and refurbishment of roads.
Minister of Works and Housing Babatunde Raji Fashola stated that projects under the RITCS are complementing the federal government’s ongoing rail infrastructure projects.
A question: is Cold Recycling with foamed bitumen as used in the reconstruction of the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano section of the A2 route going to be applied by BUA Group in the Miltara-Kwangwalam project?
This and other details on the scope of the work and the expected completion date for the project may be disclosed to the public by the client and the contractors as the work progresses.
Salisu Na’inna Dambatta is a retired Federal Director of Information
