The 338 kilometer dual carriage east-west road is a project initiated in 2006 to transverse major towns in the Niger Delta region. The project has faced hiccups over the years leading to delays in its completion. The reasons for this delay include, untimely release of funds and incessant demands by communities on whose lands the highway is expected to transverse. On Monday in Abuja, Minister of State for Niger Delta affairs, Darius Ishiaku said the completion target date for the 350 billion project of the east-west road would no longer be 31^st December 2014.

According to him, “The reason is the funding. We are looking into other areas of raising funds to bridge the funding gap”.

On the funding challenge, he admitted that 75% of the funds amounting to 247 billion naira has been released but more funds are required.  

“We are having to go to other sources, SURE-P has been a very big contributor to the progress of the east-west road. We have also collected some money from ADB and accessed 50%, we want to access the balance this year. We are also going to Infrastructural Development Bank to apply for additional funds from them”, he added.

On the housing project in the nine Niger Delta states, the minister debunked reports that allocations have already been made. He said the ministry is embarking on a comprehensive data bank of all the projects in the Niger Delta being handled by the federal government, the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC and other stakeholders to curb duplication.