The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Muhammad Bello, has flagged off the one-way directional road traffic on the Southern Park Way in the Abuja city centre.
Conducting journalists round major points of the road, Bello said, “This is one particular project on which we have spent enormous amount of time and resources because without completing this project, the northern and southern sectors of Abuja would not be connected. We’ve allowed traffic movement for the last few months just to allow construction to continue. But we have reached a certain milestone where we will now start enforcing the one-way traffic system.”
The minister explained that in the last few years, the FCT Administration had spent a lot of time and resources towards the completion of major arterial roads within the city while expressing joy that most of them have now reached a level of completion and could now be opened to the public.
Describing infrastructure in Abuja as second to none in Africa, the minister commended the efforts of engineers of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) and SETRACO, the contractors handling the project, for a job well done while urging the contractors to expedite efforts to ensure 100 per cent completion of the project.
He said: “I’m so pleased to say that the partnership between the FCDA and SETRACO Nigeria Limited has been very beneficial to the city because I’m sure all of you know that the twin bridges were concluded about the same time and you can see how these bridges were able to link the northern and the southern parts of the city”
“For us, this is a very important project. It also underscores the cardinal principle of President Muhammadu Buhari’s Administration, which is infrastructure, because the way that Nigeria is growing and cities like Abuja are growing, if we do not complete major infrastructure projects, it will affect our economic development.
“If you look at what President Muhammadu Buhari is doing with emphasis on the road, rail and telecommunication infrastructure, you’ll find that this is the foundation of any meaningful development.”
While charging residents of the city to use the infrastructure provided by the FCTA properly, the minister also thanked the Senate for approving the portion of the Federal Government foreign loans that affect the FCT.
He said “they approved two very important projects- the continuation of the phase two of the Abuja Light Rail project as well as the widening of the Greater Abuja Water Works. These are all very fundamental legacy projects, the benefits of which we will see in many years to come.”
The Southern Park Way, which is the cultural spine of Abuja, is a road complex traversing four key roads in the city’s main business districts of Garki and Central Business District with a complex network of access ways connecting the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) and the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA).
The remaining stretch of the road, which ends at Nnamdi Azikiwe Expressway, has also been on-going.
