Reps Task Contractors on S’East Roads
From Amby Uneze in Owerri THISDAY | Feb.16.2010

Members of the Federal House of Representatives Committee on Works have ended their inspection visit to the South East federal roads with an appeal to the contractors handing various road projects in the zone to speed up the work before the rains set in.

Conducting the Works Committee led by the Chairman, Hon. Kabiru Abdullahi Jalo, the Chief Whip of the Federal House of Representatives, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha though expressed satisfaction over the works already done on the roads, but he urged the Niger Cats Nigeria Limited, the company that is handing the rehabilitation of Owerri-Aba expressway to apply pulverization in the rehabilitation of some portions.

Ihedioha frowned on a situation whereby the contractor engages in a patch-work like on the road instead of doing a thorough reconstruction work, adding that Owerri-Aba road is a grade A road in the country that carries much traffic and needed to be done well for it to last long.
Carrying out an oversight function on the South East federal roads, the Chief Whip of the Federal House of Representatives also reminded the contractors to carry out quality work, stressing that the House would not hesitate to amend the contract sum if need be to ensure credibility of the work done.

He however, expressed satisfaction on the portion of the Aba end of the road where rehabilitation had been concluded, and appealed to them to apply the method of pulverization from the Sam Mbakwe Airport Junction down to Owerri end of the road where he identified as the dangerously damaged portion.
Ihedioha also advised the contractor to change the work schedule on this area because ‘this particular section of the road needs complete rehabilitation, while assuring them that the National Assembly was ready to appropriate more funds. The area needs to be completely scraped”.

On the Owerri-Onitsha dual carriageway, Ihedioha, who represents Aboh Mbaise/Ngor Okpala Federal Constituency of Imo State urged the contractor handling the Onitsha end of the road, Messrs CCC Construction Nigeria Limited to ensure they utilized the opportunity given to them by the National Assembly through the extension of refunds of unspent funds back to government coffers till end of March so that contractors can draw funds to work during the dry session.

According to him, the company has about N3 billion to draw before the end of March. “We believe that by March 31, the contractor would have withdrawn the funds. The South South and South East roads are most affected, hence the National Assembly extended the draw date from December 31 to March 31 to enable the contractors draw their funds”, he said.
“We urge CCC Construction Nigeria Limited to expedite action so that the money approved in the budget could be drawn”. The Onitsha/Owerri dual carriage way is divided into two parts whereby Julius Berger handles 35 kilometres, while CCC handles 47 kilometres.

The Managing Director of CCC Construction Nigeria Limited, Mr. Bassem Dib and the Deputy Managing Director of Niger Cats promised to live up to expectation by tackling the remaining portions of the road and giving quality work. Niger Cats, however, promised to finish the work before the end of the year.

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