Commissioner: Uba Sani initiated 78 roads, commissioned 21 in Kaduna

The Kaduna State Commissioner of Public Works and Infrastructure, Ibrahim Hamza, says Governor Uba Sani inherited liabilities of unpaid contractors, over invoicing and lack of documentation in roads construction, as well as low capacity utilisation in the water sector.

Hamza, who disclosed this at the Quarterly Ministerial Press Briefing at the Government House in Kaduna on Thursday, March 20, 2025, however, said the governor has overcome most of the challenges.

Hamza stated that the present administration thought out-of-the box and came up with workable solutions that enabled the continuation of inherited projects and the initiation of new ones.

The commissioner said: “Since the coming of this administration in the last 22 months, the government of Senator Uba Sani has done remarkably well. We have tried, notwithstanding the bedevilling challenges and obstacles that we encountered in the ministry itself and all the parastatals.

“We have largely overcome almost all the challenges that we met. These challenges are not limited to liabilities inherited, vandalisation, lack of proper documentation. Contracts were awarded without documentation. Some were over-inflated and there were no records.

“So, we had to just sit down, thought out-of-the-box, and to see how we can remedy all these things. So, we are battling between the challenge of remedying the wrongs that were created in the past and making progress. But thank God, everything is going well.”

Hamza noted that Sani’s administration has awarded 78 road projects, totalling 775 kilometres, in the last 21 months despite the challenges.

According to him, 21 of these roads have already been completed and have been put into use, thereby creating more economic activities across the 23 local government areas.

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“Last week, we also launched the completion of the Kaduna Bridge from Kabala Costain to Aliyu Makama Road, which will decongest traffic on the major road artery of Ahmadu Bello Way-Junction Road,” the commissioner added.

He further disclosed that Sani’s administration met capacity utilisation of the water supply scheme at less than 5% but has now risen to 30% and by the end of the year, it will reach 100%.

He recalled that a lot has been done or invested in the water sector by the previous administration “but unfortunately, the result is not commensurate with what has been invested.”

Hamza stated: “Some money was also borrowed from Islamic Development Bank to the tune of about $81 million.

“Another loan was collected again to the tune of $101 million for distribution from African Development Bank. There was also another reform by the federal government in the tune of $17.2 billion.”

The commissioner said Sani declared a state of emergency in the water sector because of the challenges bedevilling it and “that effort has tremendously improved water supply in Kaduna State.”

Hamza disclosed that Sani’s administration paid all the salary arrears of the Kaduna Water Corporation staff, amounting to N800 million and settled outstanding electricity bill of N1.3 billion.

The Star