Umahi warns contractors towards shoddy street repairs

Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, on Friday, threatened to terminate the multi-billion naira Benin/Sapele and Ologbo road reconstruction if the contractors, Levant Construction Company, failed to comply with the scope and specification of the work.

The minister expressed dissatisfaction with the work and subsequently ordered the ministry’s supervising engineers to issue a warning letter to the contractors on Monday.

Umahi cautioned that he would terminate the contract if the contractor failed to do the right thing.

The minister, who had been on an inspection tour of work done on federal roads in Edo State, said that contractors in the country were playing politics with Nigerians and warned that he would not tolerate such under his watch.

He said, “By Monday, give them a warning letter to start permanent work, and if, by Monday, they didn’t start, give 14 days’ notice of termination. We paid multi-billion naira for this job and we have seen that a lot of contractors in this country are just playing politics with us.

“We will pay mobilisation fee to a contractor, we will never pay variation on price for that amount we have paid and that is the problem with Levant, and after 14 days of notice of termination, if they don’t adhere to the term of the contract, I will come and terminate the job myself.

“You cannot do this kind of job in your country; it can only happen in Africa. You can’t collect our money and be misbehaving like this. It is a big shame; look at how people are suffering everywhere and we should be happy clapping for you. I have had more than 10 meetings with them on this job,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Ondo State Government has begun the constitution of roads in the rural areas in the three senatorial districts of the state, under the Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project.

It was gathered that the project which was launched on Friday by the state Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, was to ease the transportation of farm produce to the urban centres.

At the launching of the N1.2bn project in Oda community in the Akure South Local Government Area of the state, Aiyedatiwa said the project was part of the government’s commitment to the development of rural communities in the state.

According to him, the road project will kick off with the construction of 15.5km long and will cut across Oda Cocoa Board – Camp 2 – Lagbido road in the local government.

He said, “From the inception of our administration, we made deliberate efforts to put in place several life-changing programmes and projects geared towards improving the livelihood and living standard of our teeming farming population.

“It was our resolve that the government needed to do more in the rural areas of Ondo State and I am glad that the road project being flagged is not only fulfilling this position but marking the commencement of the construction of several rural roads by RAAMP.

“Let me reiterate our commitment to the development of the grassroots and by extension the people of Ondo State, I am using this medium to assure you that we shall continue to embark on more developmental projects for the benefit of our people”.

In his remarks, the state Project Coordinator of RAAMP, Femi Adetanmi, revealed that the project was estimated to cost a sum of N1.2bn and was expected to be completed within the space of 18 months.

He explained that the roads would be useful to the people of Ondo State as it would give the farmers easy access to transport their farm produce and goods and thereby reduce food scarcity.