The Federal Government and China Exim Bank have disagreed on the number of lanes for the Akwanga-Gombe road project. While the FG proposed three lanes per carriageway, China Exim Bank, the project’s financier, insisted on four lanes.
Minister of Works, David Umahi, revealed this at the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway stakeholder meeting, clarifying that the project would benefit the North East. He dismissed claims that none of President Tinubu’s legacy road projects were planned for the region.
The Akwanga-Gombe road, linking Akwanga to Jos, Bauchi, and Gombe, was ordered by President Tinubu to be redesigned with three lanes per carriageway.
However, China Exim Bank, as the financier, required four lanes to fund the project.
“Let me first start by discussing the four legacy projects of Mr. President. I watched a motion on the floor of the Senate where a motion was alluding that out of the four legacy projects of the President, none is for the North East. That is not correct.
“We have the fourth legacy project of Mr. President which is running from Akwanga. It goes to Jos, and from Jos, it goes to Bauchi, then to Gombe.
“That is the fourth legacy project, and we are on the project because it is being funded by the China Exim Bank. But we came to a point of conflict because the President directed that the road should be redesigned with concrete and should be six lanes, that is, three lanes per carriageway.
“But the funders, China Exim Bank, said, ‘Look, we can’t do three lanes per carriageway; we have to do four lanes per carriageway,” Umahi said.
However, the Minister of Works revealed that the government would engage stakeholders in the North East to resolve the issue by either persuading China Exim Bank to accept three lanes per carriageway or revising the design to four lanes and seeking the President’s approval.
The Akwanga-Gombe road project is not the first for which the Federal Government has sought funding from China Exim Bank.
Additionally, the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project, a legacy project, is being executed under the Engineering, Procurement, Construction, and Financing (EPC+F) model, with the contractor, Hitech, providing most of the funding and planning to recoup the investment through toll operations. Other legacy projects will also be tolled to recover funds invested.