E-West road: Minister decries poor state of project execution

...Passes no confidence vote in contractor
…Says your team must come to Abuja to explain cause of road failure

By Oloche Benjamin

Works Minister, Engr. David Umahi has expressed anger over the poor quality of works executed by the contractor handling the construction of a section of the East West highway dualisation project, the SETRACO Construction Company.

Not satisfied with the deplorable state of the highway, still under construction, Engr. Umahi has passed a vote of no confidence on the Company, while also summoning the team to Abuja to explain the cause of the road failure.

He told the Company, “The gimmicks the contractors are using is excuse of overloading, I am passing A VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE on the construction of this road.

‘I wont certify anything on this road , the road has failed and it is not acceptable to us. the road is full of pot holes , we have paid over N71b and the road has completely gone down, and the road has been further reviewed from N44b to 144b billion , apart from the beautiful bridge you have built , the road has completely gone down.

“Project manager tell your team to meet me in Abuja on Monday to tell me what has caused the failure on the road, I do not accept it is overloading truck, our roads are not properly being constructed and I demand that these roads must be properly constructed.

“It is a fight that Nigerians must win and Mr. President must win this fight for the sake of the Nigerian people to truly enjoy the dividends of a democratic Government.

This development unfolded during the Minister’s continuous tour of the Nigerian roads traversing Abuja, through Kogi, Edo, Delta , Bayelsa up to Port Harcourt in Rivers State through the famous much talked about East West road to inspect the progress of work on the highway by himself on Tuesday the 19th of September,2023.

The Minister said “ I have invited all the Directors of Federal Roads Maintenance Agency, FERMA, with their engineers from Edo , Delta , Bayelsa and Akwa Ibom , they should be able to attend to the small failures and redeem all the places that failed on the road and I will hold a meeting with Niger Delta Development Commission (NNDC ) Managing Director this evening to find out how we can collaborate on this road”

He said he further discussed with the Edo State Governor that the East West road passed through his state and that was what is causing the traffic jams and hold up, he said they have to design a bye pass, so that the heavy trucks can stop ,moving through the town , it is by so doing that the gridlock can be stopped and business activity in the state can improve.

Umahi said “We have to look at our constituency projects to see how our constituency projects can be meaningful and impactful and I will be discussing this with the leadership of the House of Representative and the Senate “