Nasiru Mu’azu Magarya, the Speaker Zamfara House of Assembly, on Monday summoned Avic Engineering, the contractor handling the Gusau Cargo Airport project.
Magarya, who accompanied a group of house committee chairs to the construction site, demanded the contractor to explain why the project is taking so long.
The legislative arm’s role is written in section 128 of the 1999 constitution, as amended, and the speaker claimed his staff was at the project site as part of that duty.
“The constitution of the Federal Republic has empowered the state legislature to embark on oversight functions to projects being executed by the government.”
Magarya ordered the Commissioner for Housing and Urban Development and that of Works and Transport as well as the consultant of the project, B.J. Aeronautics, to appear before the house to explain the reason for delaying the project.
The speaker said his meeting with the critical stakeholders would proffer a solution to the project delay.
Earlier, the state Commissioner for Housing and Urban Development, Alhaji Ahmad Muktar Gusau, while conducting the speaker round the project, assured that the quality of work would not be compromised.
The Commissioner said the work was delayed due to paucity of funds as well as the security situation and the rainy season in the state.
He, however, assured the speaker that the ministry would ensure the bill of quantity is maintained.
According to the Commissioner, the ministry had maintained a weekly project site visit to ensure compliance.
He expressed optimism that the project would be completed on schedule.
Gov. Bello Matawalle, during an inspection of project in May, said the Cargo Airport would begin operation before the end of 2021.
Former Gov. Mahmud Aliyu Shinkafi initiated the project in 2008, for an initial contract sum of N10 billion, but the successor administration of Gov. AbdulAziz Yari did not continue with the project in his eight years in office.
Gov Bello Matawalle, however, inherited the project in 2019 and announced his intention to complete and put it to use.