NEDC Awards Contract for Three Bridges on Bauchi-Gombe Highway

Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi

Motorists and other road users who ply the dilapidated 150km Bauchi -Gombe federal highway will soon heave a sigh of relief from the hardship they face on the busy road, especially during the rainy season.

THISDAY checks revealed that every rainy season, for more than five years now, three major spots on the road use to be cut off due to heavy rainfall thereby forcing the road users to divert to other routes to get to their various locations.

In one of its intervention services, the North-East Development Commission (NEDC) has taken over the construction of bridges on the three spots located in Kalajanga, Bara and Tashan Turmi which have remained prone to flooding over the years.

Already, work at the first spot in Kalajanga village has reached above 50 percent of completion as workers are on site all day round to ensure that the construction was completed on schedule as disclosed by the Supervisor of the project, Jacob Joseph, who spoke to journalists at the site.

Joseph revealed that the contract was awarded to Triacta Nigeria Plc, which immediately mobilised to site and commenced work in order to complete and deliver it before the rainy season will set in.

According to him, “As you can see, work is progressing steadily, and I can tell you that we have done more than 50 percent of the work. In the next three weeks, we will deliver this one and move to the next spot. Our men are already there to create a diversion to enable us begin the work.”

The supervisor assured the people that the bridge, which is a three-span will provide smooth traffic flow on the spot against what used to happen every rainy season as flood used to wash away the culvert there before.

He commended the villagers for their cooperation and support for the company, saying that most of them work as casuals in the security department because, according to him, “It is their terrain and they know it very well.”

He also said that some of the skilled youths in the village were engaged in order to be well trained and master their trades, stressing that the atmosphere has been made convenient for them by the community.

Joseph pro