The Federal Executive Council (FEC) yesterday approved contracts worth N15 billion for Water Resources as well as Works and Housing ministries.

Addressing State House Correspondents after the FEC meeting, Water Resources Minister Suleiman Adamu said his ministry presented a memorandum seeking the variation and augmentation of the Tada Shonga Irrigation Project in Kwara State.

He said: “We brought this augmentation and variation for Tada Shonga Irrigation Project, which is sited in Shonga in Kwara State.

“The project was started in 2010 but was abandoned along the way. And because of its huge potential for irrigation and especially for rice production, we made it a priority project in our ministry.

Therefore, we brought it to Council for an augmentation and request for variation to increase the size of the project because of the potential it has from 1,500 hectares to 2,300 hectares of irrigation.

“The augmentation is for N6.9 billion. Of course, like I said, the variation includes 700 hectares’ increase, plus two megawatt solar powered plant to replace the diesel powered plant that was in the original design.

This is because, as you know, diesel is expensive now. So, pumping will be unsustainable. The irrigation system will be unsustainable, if we continue to rely on diesel.

“So, for that purpose, we sought the augmentation and variation in the N6.9 billion, raising the project from the original N3.263 billion to N10.18 billion with the completion period of 36 months.

“Council was gracious enough to approve this project because of the huge potentials it has for the food security policy and our desire to make agriculture a focal instrument of our economy,” he said.

On FEC’s approvals for roads in Edo and Ondo states, the Minister of State for Works and Housing, Abubakar Aliyu, said the Council approved a memorandum for the augmentation of an ongoing project.

According to him, the Benin-Adumagbe-Igba-Akure road, which was awarded in 2013 and abandoned for lack of funding, will be resumed with the project cost now put at N4,770,189,493.

“The contract was awarded in December 2013, meaning we inherited the project. As you all know, it’s the decision of President Muhammadu Buhari to continue and complete all ongoing projects.

“This project was stopped for some time for lack of funding. Now that the contractor wants to continue, the bill has to be reviewed. We have reviewed the contract from the original N3,297,221,221.90 to N4,770,188,497, inclusive of VAT and tax, an increase of about N1.48 billion.

“It was further reviewed down through the processes of going to BPP to the total sum of N4,770,189,493,” Aliyu said.