Butchers and traders at the proposed Mgbuosimini abattoir in Rumueme Community in Obio/Akpor Local Council of Rivers State have lamented slow pace of work at the site.
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The proposed abattoir, which is situated at the water front is functioning simultaneously with the construction work.
Although the site was fenced to ward off trespassers, looks abandoned with the entrance under lock and key when The Guardian visited on Tuesday morning.
    
Traders around the make-shift market beside the site said construction work had commenced last year, but stopped abruptly in May, speculating delays in mobilisation as reason for the stopped work.
   
However, a market woman, Barisi Lucky, said she saw workers on Monday, but could not figure out why the site was locked ever since. She also lamented low patronage, blaming it on slow pace of work at the abattoir.
   
“There is no market. Just as you see us, in the morning, we will just be sleeping in the afternoon and in the night we go.
 
“Many people have left  to trade their market at the road, because customers will not want to walk down to this place to buy due to its deplorable state.  If government has completed the abattoir and it is operational, people will have shops inside and business will boom,” she said.
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Also, some butchers disclosed that the abattoir at a time had the capacity of slaughtering 40 cows per day, but the ongoing construction of the new abattoir, which took part of the land, has left the abattoir with less than 20 cows per day.
 
One of the butchers, Goodluck Amadi, told The Guardian that work at the proposed abattoir stopped around May, and since then nothing has been happening at the site. He said: “We kill 20 cows every day. We first killed 17 and later three. On Sunday we killed just three. We do not like the way cows are slaughtered because the blood is spilling everywhere. We are urging government to expedite action on the abandoned abattoir.
 
“Although the council chairman had visited and inspected the place several times, nothing has happened afterwards. The building started six months ago and now there is no equipment and there are no workers on site.
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“Before, you would see caterpillars and heavy duty vehicles working on site, but in May, we started noticing slowing down of  work. When we inquired , the workers said that they had not  been paid .”
  
Asked if there has been an influx of butchers after government approved the place, another butcher, identified as Emmanuel, said no, stressing that the abattoir is being deserted daily.
     
Reacting, a top government official, who preferred anonymity, said the project is ongoing, regardless of the pace, assuring that it will be delivered in due time.
 
The official said: “I can confirm to you that that project is ongoing and in no time that project will be ready for use.”
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