At least 134 local contractors on Wednesday participated in an open bid held for the construction/rehabilitation of 26 urban roads recently advertised by Kwara State Government, conforming to Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq’s insistence that contract awards would be made only after a transparent process.

Yusuf Garba Manjo, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Works and Transport, said the Wednesday bids were the first phase of the exercise because roads for consideration under the phase 2 are still being compiled and are scheduled for execution in the first and second quarters of 2020.

“The present administration under the leadership of AbdulRazaq is committed to ensuring that construction works are given to competent contractors,” he said. “In furtherance of this, the Ministry shall follow due process to ensure qualified contractors are awarded the projects to ensure quality service delivery to the people. We shall ensure strict compliance with the Public Procurement Act.”

He said this road construction/rehabilitation is part of the urban renewal programme of the new administration.

The formal bidding saw the ministry’s officials opening and read out the figures and other details of the bid, including the technical and financial parts of the proposals, with Manjo saying successful bidders would be communicated after the exhaustive processes have been followed.

Some of the contractors who spoke with newsmen commended the state government for the transparency employed in the bidding process which the contractors said was the first such measure in years.

The 26 roads in the first phase, which had earlier been advertised in the newspapers, included Ipata Market Internal Road network; Emir’s Road Patigi; College of Education Road linking Unilorin Mini campus; townhall/station road, Erin Ile; Market Junction-Emir’s Palace Gwanara; Tsaragi-Market Batakpan road; Museum Road, Esie; Adeta Primary School Road, Kuntu; Queen Elizabeth School Internal Road; Tipper Garage Junction Amuyo-Adesoye College Offa; Shao Township Road; Osi Township Road; Oro-Ago-Oyate Road; Sobi Specialist Hospital—Gaa-Osiris-Medina Road Ilorin; Awolowo Road Tanke-Danialu Primary School; Asadam Lower Road by Railway; and Gberia Township Road Kaiama, among others.

The bidding process came amid accolades for AbdulRazaq over the recent rehabilitation (asphalting) of Taiwo Road in Omu Aran; Popo Road in Offa; and Dada road in Ilorin, the state capital.