The Minister of Works, Chief David Umahi has ordered the contractor handling the 15-kilometre Eleme –Onne junction section of the East West Road in Rivers State to immediately return to site as part of the government’s move to complete the road on schedule.
The order of the minister comes barely 30 hours after the Minister had ordered the company, Reynolds Construction Company (RCC) to stop work for allegedly doing “substandard” job on the very critically important road.
Chief Umahi who visited the project site on January 27 for on-the spot-assessment of the reconstruction works on the road had expressed his anger over the shoddy job being done by the construction company. Chief Umahi who was accompanied by the lawmaker representing Rivers South-East in the Senate, Mpigi Barinada revealed that the Federal Government had already committed over N33 billion on the project. The vissibly angry minister said that the era of taking government money without delivering as planned was over.
However, in a statement signed by the spokesman of the Minister, Uchenna Orji, the minister has again ordered the contractor to go back to site and resume work.
Part of the statement reads:
“The Minister of Works, David Umahi, has directed Mrss Renolds Construction Company RCC, Nigeria Limited to immediately resume work on the 15 km Eleme to Onne Junction on the East-West Road, Rivers State which he suspended during his unscheduled inspection visit to the project site on 27th January 2024, due to observed infractions on the construction specification
“This directive is by the resolutions reached in a meeting with the Permanent Secretary and key Directors of the Ministry together with the management of RCC Ltd at his office at the Federal Ministry of Works, Mabushi- Abuja, this 29th January 2024
“The Minister had ordered the suspension of work on the project due to substandard jobs and invited the management of the company to report to the Ministry for resolution of technical issues.
“The minister further directs the contractors handling the project to resume work on the four sections of the project and in strict compliance with the contract specifications.
“They are also required to liaise with the Permanent Secretary and the Director in charge of construction to engage with the representatives of the host communities on issues bothering alleged infringement on the contractors’ right of way which, according to them slows down the project.
“The Minister of Works is determined to see to the speedy and quality delivery of Federal Government’s jobs across the nation in line with the vision of the current administration and he is unbending in his resolve not to accept the delivery of jobs that fall short of standard.”
