Benue govt pledges to commission projects 2010 Q1

By Peter Duru
Bunue State Governor, Mr. Gabriel Suswam has pledged to commission  of the projects in the state in the first quarter 2010.

In an interview with Vanguard, the Governor said, “ My intention is to make sure that all the projects we have started is completed. I have done everything possible to make sure that in spite of the economic meltdown, work is going on, on those roads and other projects in line with set time frame.

I had indicated to the contractors that I want Mr. President to possibly commission some of the projects and roads by March of next years and we are working towards that. There are a lot of constraints, there is no doubt about that, the rainy season to a large extent slowed down substantially part of our work, but if you observe they have resume work in those places, there is also the constraint of finance which we are battling with. And you’ll agree with me that the way out is the floating of bonds which the State has opted for, and which majority of the States have also opted for. We are not alone in this, even the Federal Government has gone to the capital market to raise fund to complete some of its projects.

I am convinced and I also believe very strongly that we will be able to complete virtually all the projects that we’ve started, all things been equal, we are determined to do that but issues could crop up, but we are working towards completing them. Like the water project, I intend to commission it by first quarter of next year, most of the roads, I intend to commission them by the first quarter of next year. I sincerely hope to move, to the governor’s lodge also by first quarter of next year. So I am believing that we will be able to commission most of these projects early next year.”

On the rationale for the administration’s emphasis on  investment  in infrastructural development, he said, “ The fact is that no economy attains meaningful development without a commensurate improvement in its infrastructural base. In the first place an economy that lack basic infrastructure will find it tough to attract investors. Therefore as a government that was determined from the onset to open up the state for outside investment and by extension better the lot of the ordinary man in the street we massively embarked on both rural and urban renewal.”

Continuing, he stressed that its government started with the  rural and urban roads, introduction of mechanized agriculture then the lightening up of the state capital with solar powered street lights which will soon be extended to all the major towns in the state, noting that  health facilities were built across the state and the existing ones upgraded with all of them stocked with medical equipment and drugs.

On the issue of the federal government attaining the 6000 megawatts of electricity by end of December 2009, he said, “ You will agree with me that in the past few weeks, there is stability of electricity, So we are getting there. I am not the minister of power, but given my vantage position as a member of the NIPP, I can tell you that substantial work has been done, though there are little hiccups here and there but much will be achieved in terms of generation. Transmission can pose some challenges and concerns, but in terms of generation, the six thousand will be achieved. And I noticed that there is a level of stability in power supply at the moment which then means that there is substantial increase in transmission as well.

When asked his view about the award given to him by the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), as the best performed Governor in infrastructure development, he said, “ Quite frankly, this to me like I said earlier is the biggest I have received because it has been bestowed on me by a collection of people who are supposed to know what is going on in terms of infrastructure. Actually they did their own assessment even without me knowing when they nominated me.

I was also surprised because I never knew they were taking inventory of my administration’s development efforts. And like you know, these are core professionals in their various field and they also stand to be challenged by any person if they bestow an award on anybody or a governor.