Ministry blamed for shoddy job on East-West road project

The Acting Chairman of Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC), Mr. Victor Muruako, has said that lack of effective supervision of the East-West road by the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs was responsible for the shoddy work done on the project.

Muruako, who was on a tour of the East-West road from the Eket-Oron axis in Akwa Ibom State, expressed displeasure over the lapses noticed in the execution of the project by the contractor, Gitto Construction Company.

According to him, work on the 50km stretch from Oron-Eket-Onna axis of the road is slow and the quality is substandard.He expressed dismay that the project secretary from the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs at the construction site could not provide relevant information on the progress of the work.

“The ministry is not supervising this project. This is the problem. You are supposed to be on the contractor’s neck to ensure that the work is done. We owe the citizens the obligation to do our work well.

The people should get value for money spent by the government on projects,” he said.He noted that some portions of the road had already failed while the contractor was still on site, adding that the road safety signs and comfort facilities provided in the construction design had not been fixed by the contractor.

The FRC delegation also questioned why the dual carriageway from Oron was altered into a single lane at Ikot Usekong stretching about 7.1 km through Eket-Oron road to Eket-Onna bridgehead.

The Project Manager of Gitto Construction Company, Mr. Ghaniem Rasbia, said the 50 km road had seven bridges, explaining that the alteration of dual carriageway into a single lane at Ikot Usekong was approved by the government to save cost arising from payment of compensation to property owners.