By Leonard Okachie
The Federal Ministry of Works has said that the Federal and Abia Governments’ contractors are working simultaneously on the reconstruction of the Umuahia-Ikwuano-Ikot Ekpene Road to ensure its timely, successful completion.
The Federal Controller of Works in Abia, Mr Chidi Uwaeziozi, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in his office in Umuahia on Tuesday.
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Uwaeziozi said that the Federal Government’s contractors, the Hartland Civil Engineering Construction, were still on site, alongside the State Government’s contractors, the Geld Construction Company.
He confirmed that the State Government only took over the rehabilitation of the 25-km Phase Two of the 49-km project.
President Bola Tinubu had approved the handover of the project to the Abia Government, demonstrating the Federal Government’s commitment to addressing long-standing infrastructure challenges in the South-East.
Gov. Alex Otti of Abia had in October last year commissioned the road for rehabilitation after many years of dilapidation, to enhance economic growth, connectivity, and rural development.
However, the presence of the Federal Government’s contractor had raised questions about the road actually being rehabilitated by the Abia Government.
Reacting to the development, Uwaeziozi said that Hartland was working on the remaining 1.5-km section of the Phase One, which is between Isiala Oboro and Ogbuebulle Communities both in Ikwuano Local Government Area of Abia.
He admitted that the project, initially awarded to Hartland in 2019, had faced numerous delays, due to funding and compensation issues.
Uwaeziozi disclosed that the segments in Abia territory that involved the demolition of structures and payment of compensations were part of the section handed over to the State Government.
He said: “The projects are scoped in such a way that we can only accommodate the one that we have money to pay for.
“So the contractor does the work, we pay him.
“And by the reason of not being scoped in, phase two is no longer in active contracts, which is where the State Government came in.
“Our own contractor (Hartland) still has a contract running in phase one, so he has an obligation to finish that.”
NAN reports that the contract was awarded in 2019 to Hartland at ₦13 billion, with a completion period of four years.
The project was attracted by Chief Sam Onuigbo, who represented Ikwuano/Umuahia North/South Federal Constituency in the 8th and 9th National Assembly.
Meanwhile, Onuigbo has expressed gratitude to the Tinubu-led administration for showing interest in the project’s completion.
He explained that the presence of the contractor on the site showed that the Federal Government was still desirous to complete the project for the benefit of commuters from the South-East and elsewhere, up to Cameroun.
He recalled that the road was completely impassable until he moved a motion on the floor of the House in 2016, and followed up with the then Minister of Works, Mr Babatunde Fashola.
He lauded the cooperation between the Federal and State Governments towards the completion of the project.
“It is a welcome development that the State Government has decided to take over a section of the road, which is about five villages to the main border in Akwa Ibom.
“The Federal Government has already done the other section from Ikot Ekpene to Obot.
“With that, the road will now become smooth to use for a lot of other things, for travellers, tourists and those rushing to go to the airport,” Onuigbo said. (NAN)
