BSHA Lauds BENGIS Project Progress
By Jerry Moses –
The Benue State House of Assembly Standing Committee on Lands, Survey and Solid Minerals has expressed satisfaction with the quality and pace of work on the Benue Geographic Information Service, BENGIS building project, under construction at the State Ministry of Lands, Survey and Solid Minerals headquarters, Makurdi.
Chairman of the Committee, Architect Bunde Torkuma Yongu, made this known when he led other members of the committee to the Ministry on Tuesday for an oversight function.
The member representing Buruku State Constituency commended the ministry and the contractor for doing quality work and encouraged them to work according to specifications and urged the contractor to intensify efforts to hit the deadline.
He commended Governor Samuel Ortom for embarking on the project and expressed confidence in the ability of the Commissioner in charge of the Ministry, Hon. Bernard Unenge to execute it.
Arc. Yongu assured of the Assembly’s support for the success of the project and commended Hon. Unenge for doing a great job.
Speaking separately, members of the Committee, Hon. Abu Umoru and Terwase Aondoakaa, tasked Land officers to be fair in giving land allocations in order to include low income.
Reiterating the importance of BENGIS, Hon. Bernard Unenge, said when completed, it will generate over N1b on yearly basis for the development of Benue State.
He expressed joy that Governor Ortom had taken up the challenge in spite of paucity of funds, saying the project would be completed within the timeline which is June 2022, adding that 75% of the work had been done already.
Hon. Unenge explained that the N6.5 billion earmarked for the BENGIS project was not only for construction work at the headquarters but also for the building and equipment of three service points at Gboko, Otukpo and Adikpo.
According to him, other aspects of the project include: Staff training, digital area mapping capturing the entire state as well as State’s Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) Programme assisted by the World Bank for collection of data on buildings and other infrastructures in the state towards attracting 2.5 Million dollars grant for critical infrastructural development for states that meet the requirements.
The Commissioner who conducted the House Committee Chairman and his members round the BENGIS project to assess the level and quality of work done so far said their visit was a morale booster to the ministry.
