By Laide Akinboade, Abuja

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike on Thursday, said his administration got N50 billion from the Ministry of Finance to finance ongoing capital projects.

The amount, according to the minister, is 50 per cent of FCT’s N100 billion 2023 supplementary budget approved by the National Assembly.

Wike made the announcement after an inspection tour of some ongoing projects in the FCT, in Abuja.

The minister said that he has directed the Permanent Secretary to immediately make payments to the contractors handling projects in FCT.

“I am happy to announce to you that the Ministry of Finance has released 50 per cent of the national supplementary budget.

“That in a way, has given us that hope that the contractors will be paid anytime from now.

“We have also gotten assent to the FCT Statutory Budget, which again, has given us hope that no project will be left uncompleted as promised.

“As you can see, these are quality projects, which we are very satisfied with.

“We believe that the arrangements made by the contractors will enable us to commission the projects to celebrate Mr President’s one year in office,” he said.

He commended the residents of Abuja for their support, while assuring them that there was no promise made that would not be fulfilled, stressing that a promise made would be fulfilled.

He expressed confidence that the projects would be delivered on schedule, saying “we are quite hopeful; we are quite convinced that they would keep to the time scheduled as agreed.

“We are happy with what we have seen, and we will continue to do things to the satisfaction of the residents of Abuja and assure them that the renewed hope agenda is not a mere talk.”

“So, it is a promise and a promise kept.”

Wike acknowledged some challenges at the course of delivering the projects, adding, however, that the challenges were surmountable.

He added that with the kind of support from President Bola Tinubu, there were no challenges that would not be surmountable.

One of the projects inspected is the Outer Southern Expressway, which stretches from A.A Rano, through Deeper Life Junction, SARS, Apo roundabout to Wasa District.

The road is being constructed by China Geo-Engineering Corporation (CGC) Nigeria Limited.

Wike also inspected the Northern N-20 Expressway in Jahi District being constructed by Gilmor Construction firm and the Vice President’s residence being constructed by Julius Berger.

The Area Manager, CGC Nigeria Ltd., Yong Hong, assured the minister that the Outer Southern Expressway would be delivered before May.

Similarly, the representative of Julius Berger, Mr Oliver Berger, said that the team were on site for the past two months and have done a lot of work on the VP residence project.

“We have done a lot of cleaning inside and outside.

“As you can see a lot of infrastructural work has happened; earth work around the fence line has been done, sewage and other trenches have been done.

“All the procurement processes have commenced already and from the preparation point of view we are in a good position to turn all our plans and procurement activities into action,” he said.