The Supervising Minister of the Niger Delta Affairs, Arc. Dickson Ishaku said that it has so far expended over N250 billion on the construction of the East-West roads.
This came as he gave a breakdown of funds received from the African Development Bank (ADB) and the Subsidy Reinvestment Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) to support execution of the overall project.
Speaking with newsmen in Abuja, he explained that the cost of dualising the East-West roads was N350 billion out of which N250 billion had so far been disbursed.
He disclosed that the Ministry acquired the loan of $300 million from the African Development Bank (ADB) out of which $150 million had been accessed.
He added that the SURE-P also has between 2012-2014 allocated about N94 billion consecutively.
Dickson recalled that the prevailing socio-political and economic conditions of the nine regions had led to inception of the Ministry.
According to him, the decision to implement specific development programmes for the region was borne out of the will to restore peace to these areas.
The Regions includes Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross-River, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo and Rivers states.
He disclosed that except for Edo state which has its contract revoked, due to non-performance on the part of contractors, other states are almost at the completion stage.
He said: “Part of the projects being undertaken by the ministry are the dualisation of the East-West road, housing scheme, skills acquisition centres, training and empowerment and the stakeholders conference.
“I will not only give you that of ADB, I will also give you that of the SURE-P; from ADB we have had a loan of $300 million, we have accessed 150 of it and we are hoping to access the balance 150 this year,’’ he said.
