The Minister of State for Works and Housing, Mr Abubakar Aliyu, said the ongoing construction of Kano Western bypass road will be completed before December 2021.

The minister said this while responding to questions from newsmen after his inspection of the 26km dual highway on Friday.

He said that the speed at which the contractor was working on the road construction was commendable.

The minister, however, urged the contractor handling the project to redouble its speed so that the people of the area and the entire people of Kano would begin to benefit from it very soon.

“As you can see, since the beginning of the project a lot of activities had started around the axis. People have begun to build houses along the way, cost of lands and house rents have also increased.

“This is to show you that prosperity is on the way to the area due to the construction of the road. With the ongoing activities in the area, it tells you that people are being empowered.

“The phase one of the road project started from the Dawanau Roundabout which is part of the phase one of the Kano-Katsina road project up to Gwarzo road.

“Dawanau is an area where the largest grain market in Africa is located.

“The Kano Western bypass road project is under the SUKUK funding, which is also to tell you that there will be no issue of funding challenges on the project. Therefore, the work is going on accordingly,” he said.

Aliyu also inspected the ongoing 152km Kano to Katsina road currently under construction.

He assured the public that it would be completed before the end of 2023 as there was no problem with funding for the project.

He assured the people that the Federal Government would not allow the quality of the projects to be compromised, saying, “that’s the reason why we are here.

“Do not expect us to just stay in office to be receiving reports from site engineers.

“Whatever report we receive, we have to visit the place and verify it.

“I assure you that after my visit, the Minister himself will come to inspect the projects.”

He also assured the contractors facing challenges in executing their project that the ministry would discuss such with the state government and all stakeholders with a view to resolving them.