FG approves N29.08bn for road, salt wall projects

By: Stephen Angbulu , Oluwapelumi Adeniran

The project will not only save the country millions of dollars in foreign exchange but also bridge the local salt demand gap - Lai Mohammed

The Federal Government today, approved N29,083,577,000 for projects in the Ministry of Works and Housing and Mines and Steel Development.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, disclosed this to newsmen after the weekly Council meeting chaired by President      Muhammadu Buhari. According to Mohammed, N27.23bn and N1.85bn were approved to rehabilitate the 30km Idoani-Otuo Road and construct a 27km retaining wall for the Ebonyi Salt Lakes, respectively.

Explaining further details about the project, Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite, said it will be funded directly by the Presidency. The project, he said, will not only save the country millions of dollars in foreign exchange but also bridge the local salt demand gap.

“We came to Council for approval, there’s a direct intervention by the President, for a salt project in Ebonyi State. We import our salts from abroad, spending something annually in the region of about $88m. Now this project, it will mitigate that, it will not satisfy local demand, but at least meet some of the local demand and save us the Forex.

“The salt is in Ebonyi State, of course, naturally, but it cannot be mined without this infrastructure that we’re about to do, we’re building a retaining wall because water comes in and washes the salt away every time. These are salt lakes that occur naturally, so the salt is in the lakes, but when water comes in, it washes the salt away.

“So, after the environmental impact analysis was done, the report suggested that we needed to build a retaining wall. This retaining wall is about 27 kilometres long and about 2.9 meters high. This is what we came to Council for, it’s being funded directly from the Presidency, it was awarded to Reinforced Global Resources Limited, at the sum of N1.85bn for the retaining wall. It was approved and the contract will go ahead. It will be achieved in six months,” he said.