FG reviews ongoing road projects, bemoans slow pace

The Federal Government has decried the slow pace of work on the Enugu-Onitsha Road, hinting at a review of all inherited and new road projects nationwide.
The Minister of Works, David Umahi, in a statement issued by his spokesman, Uchenna Orji, said he had directed the contractors handling the construction of the 107km Enugu – Onitsha road dualisation to brace up for the new template concerning speed and quality of work.

Umahi spoke during a meeting of the ministry with MTN, saying funding the construction of the project under the Road Infrastructure Development and Refurbishment Investment Tax Credit Scheme.

The meeting was attended by representatives of the Enugu state government and the two contractors handling the project – RCC Ltd and Nigercat Ltd, in Abuja. He said: “Let me express my disappointment over the slow pace of work on that project. It is one of the worst roads in this country. Everywhere we have diversion, diverting from the one that RCC and the Nigercat, have completed.

“The contractors are not kind enough to even put stone bases on the diversion points. So, by the reason of the launching of our Operation Free our Roads, it is now a violation of policy on the side of the controllers and directors of the Federal Ministry of Works where we have vehicles falling on any project.”