By Moses Akarhan
Construction work on the Benue Geographic Information Service (BENGIS) Centre at the State Ministry of Lands, Survey and Solid Minerals progresses as the contractor is working day and night to meet the government’s set time of delivery.
This was contained in a press statement by the Media Aide to the Commissioner for Lands, Survey and Solid Minerals, Mr Jacob Shom and made available to The Voice.
According to the release, the Commissioner in-charge of the Ministry, Bernard Unenge and the BENGIS Project Manager, Mr Mario Bajouk, who were on ground to assess the level of work, separately said they were impressed with the quality and pace of work, promising to closely supervise it until the completion of the project.
Unenge stated that, structural work on the Makurdi permanent BENGIS centre which is expected to be completed in July this year will be fully equipped with state of the art facilities and shall warehouse the digitized land services of the state.
He added that, the project, which is one of the legacies of Governor Samuel Ortom would enhance land administration and revenue generation in the state, as well as support improved urban planning, infrastructural development, environmental management and encourage private investment.
The commissioner pointed out that the project, which was flagged-off by Governor Ortom in September last year, began with digital aerial mapping of the state, installation of Graphic Information Service (GIS) facilities in the temporary office and training of the ministry’s staff.
Unenge added that, it followed with installation of a mast to boost survey operations signals, as well as GIS communication coverage.
The statement quoted the site engineer, Badmus Babatunde as disclosing that a lot has been done within the past one month and promised that his team would deliver a quality job within the stipulated time frame.
He said they are at the level of sub-structure which includes; blinding of the base, reinforcements of the column base, preparation of form-work to column footing and setting out of the foundation.