FCT minister of state Ramatu Aliyu has assured residents that the N640 million abandoned office complex of the FCT Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board would soon be completed.
Aliyu gave the assurance while on assessment tour of the project on Tuesday in Abuja.
The minister lamented that the five-storey building located at Kaura District of Abuja had only advanced to 20 per cent completion since its commencement in 2015.
She noted that the project fell within the category of one of the abandoned projects in the Federal Capital Territory that needed urgent attention.
According to her, there is a presidential order to complete all abandoned projects.
“This particular project is one of the cases of an abandoned project. President Muhammadu Buhari, from the inception of his administration, vowed to ensure that all abandoned projects are completed.
“We will continue to do our best to enable the contractor do the needful.
“A lot of resources have been committed to this structure and abandoning it at this stage of completion only leads to wastage of government resources.
“We will see what we can do; I am happy the contractor has returned to site with a renewed vigour,” she said.
“In this year’s budget, the project is a priority. I’m impressed with the enthusiasm and capacity of the contractor to do the needful.
“The project requires a budgetary provision to bring it to a logical conclusion.”
The minister also promised that the FCT Administration would ensure that genuine contractors were paid based on the level of work done.
Earlier, Mr Ejike Amu-Nnadi, the Managing Director of Berdotez Associates Ltd, handlers of the project, had assured the minister that the project would be completed in 20 months.
Amu-Nnadi, who thanked the minister for the political will she had demonstrated so far, reiterated the commitment of his firm to deliver “a quality job of international repute”.
“Your commitment has boosted our morale. It has given us the confidence to keep investing.
“This is a very huge project of international repute. We have committed ourselves to diligence at work and steadfastness to make sure that we achieve the 20 months timeline.
“In accordance with our programme of work, we should have rounded off this project. We need your support, commitment and anything that can speed up the work.
“Without you, we cannot achieve it. Without your political will, it will be difficult because this project has suffered a lot of setbacks due to lack of political will.
“With your commitment and political will, we are back to site and we are not stopping until we finish.
“By December, we will come back to show you the progress we have recorded and it will be very impressive.
“We and our partners will make sure that we achieve good results. Your coming here has further boosted our confidence and we will not disappoint you,” he said.
